Ed Hunt
April 27, 1921 – April 7, 2012

“Love and be good to one another.”

That’s what Papaw told me.

He probably told me that dozens, maybe hundreds of times. “You should love and be good to one another.” He would say.

Usually I was pretty sure he was talking about my brother and I since it’s quite possible we were quarreling. But looking at it now Papaw wasn’t just saying it about me and Patrick.

As long as I can remember everything Papaw did, he did because he loved us. He was thoughtful, he was caring, he was good to us and he was a great friend. He loved everyone of us with everything he had.

Papaw spoke to me often about his final days and when he would no longer be with us. When others he knew would pass, he would tell me he wished to slip off in his sleep, to not be in any pain or suffering, to not be a burden on anyone and for us to love each other.

He would also tell me about how much fun we had together. Climbing the mountains squirrel hunting, pitching a baseball for me to hit, playing Rook, fishing in the creek and being his buddy helping him work outside the house. He told me so much about coal mining, I felt like I’d been working that Joy loader myself.

But that’s how we all knew him. Whether we called him Papaw, Daddy, honey, Eddie boy, Ed – with one D or with two, we knew exactly who he was and we knew he loved us. There’s simply not enough words to describe what he means to us all.

He was the best and I will miss everything about him. We all will. But if we take away one thing from all the lessons he taught us, let it be, “love and be good to one another.”

Did I tell you all about the first time I met Dominique Wilkins?

So the first time I met Dominique Wilkins, it was an accident really. I was looking for Micah Hart who then worked for hawks.com and I went into the media dining area.

Just a little background here, I had never met Micah before. We had spoken on the phone and exchanged emails, but we had never met.

Anyway, I go into the media dining area… There was a table of unfamiliar faces among the crowd of regulars. Figuring these were Hawks peeps, I asked them if they knew Micah.

Little did I know that the man with his back to me, who I was directing my question of, “Hey guys, do any of you know Micah Hart?” was my favorite player of all-time growing up, Dominique Wilkins.

So Nique, being one of the coolest dudes since George Gervin proceeded to bust my chops. “Ha! Do we know Micah! Well you’re looking at him.”

(Micah was at the table.)

I was like “Hahaha, oh Mr. Wilkins you’re funny. But do you really know Micah?” Nique then pointed across the table. And at that moment Micah revealed himself, we exchanged pleasantries and I patted Nique on the back.

Needless to say I was a little embarrassed for not recognizing one of the game’s best and one of my personal favorites but I got a handshake and shuffled on out of greatness’s way.

This entire story was build up because today is Nique’s birthday. So Happy birthday to the Human Highlight!

Welcome to the Gun Show!

Actually I just wanted to show you the new benhunted.com. No biggie, just wanted to say hi with the third reincarnation of my site.

Previously the site was a Posterous blog and overall it worked for the little I used it. And that was the biggest problem for me, I used it very little. After some thought I decided to spend a little money on my site. By doing so, it would encourage me to write about and share things I find interesting and/or important. It’s my goal to write at least one new thing each week. I’m putting that in writing so I can better hold myself accountable.

I’m still working out a few tweaks in the site but overall this is the look and feel. One thing you will notice will be thumbnails on the first page’s previous posts do not match the subject. Also thumbnails beyond the first page are missing. You my friend are very observant.

With the layout of the site I need a specific feature photo for the entries and not all the older posts have adequate shots. Going forward it won’t be a problem. So for now I put up some of my favorite photos on the front page to make it look nice.  I may get around to adding more images to the older entries some time in the future (which means I probably won’t).

That’s about it. I hope you like the site version 3.0, if you do or you hate it or have suggestions please leave them in the comments below.

Thanks!
Ben

PS: And shout out to Zippy Kid for being extremely helpful getting everything up and running! Thanks!

WOW what a difference a day makes! I know my facial hair grows fast but that’s some 24 hour growth right there!

If you don’t know why I have a mustache click here.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Hov.”

Many of you know me as this bearded fellow. I really like having a beard, it suits me. But I shaved it, it’s all gone, hasta luego, outtie 5G. I did it because I’m taking part in Movember to raise awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.

Just about a week ago I found out my grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Just typing that was a real son of a bitch. Partly because cancer is real a son of a bitch, but mostly because my Papaw is probably the single greatest man I’ve ever known.

I’m talking about a man who was a career coal miner. A man who had the roof of a mine collapse on him, break his back, make it out of the mine alive and eventually return to earn his pension. He did this because he didn’t want to see his son or his grandsons do the work he had to do to make a living. Finding out cancer is attacking the one person I always looked up to and saw as nearly invincible was a tough blow. He deserves better.

With that thought in mind I began thinking what I could do. Everyone has told me to be positive and enjoy the time I have with him when I see him, talk to him about it, comfort him, I could go on… But I really want to do something! So I decided to become an activist.

Now I know giving is an extremely personal thing and if you have several causes you already donate to then I want to thank you for being a generous soul. I would like to humbly request any donation to help whip cancer’s ass for my grandpa. He’d like that and I would appreciate it. I will be giving to the cause too because the way I see it I shouldn’t ask you to do something if I’m not willing to do it myself.

This will be the first time I’ve ever tried to grow a mustache so we’ll see how it goes, I’m sure it will be a lot of fun. Who knows I may do something creative with my ‘stache for those who donate. If you have any ideas just put them in the comment section below.

If you would like to donate to my Movember and sponsor my mustache please click here. 

Thanks for your time and contributions,
Ben

“The sad truth is it doesn’t matter how many times you succeed, it’s always the times you fail; that’s what you’ll be judged on.”

This is something I really wish were not the case, but unfortunately I see it way too often in every form. It doesn’t matter whether it’s professionally, in the media, in personal relationships. It’s really a sad truth.

We’re all human, we all make mistakes, no one is perfect. Experience teaches us lessons and we never learn greater lessons without having to overcome adversity or simply by making a mistake.

There isn’t a way to select which challenges get thrown at us. The only thing we can do is determine how we react to them.

It may be difficult to get past some judgments, but I’m going to remain optimisitc and keep my ambition to succeed.

Preface
I am a fiscal conservative, social liberal. Essentially I have been a man without a political party for some time. These comments are my own, I stand by them and my right to say them as well as your right to disagree with them.

vain /vān/ Adjective

Usually I avoid talking politics. Reasons are because most people when engaged in the discussion have their feet firmly planted on a left or right, a red or blue side. There is no middle, there is no alternative point of view and it’s a futile attempt at a discussion. So I abstain.

Until now.

The U.S.’s downgrading by the S&P has me fuming. And it all could have been avoided. All of it. Yes avoided last week, yes even last month, of course last year and the four years before that and espcially any year back to oh lets’s say 1981.

With a timeframe of 30+ years, there’s enough blame to go around on both sides of the aisle as well as ourselves.

We have consistently voted into every public office people who clearly do not have our best interest in mind. On the other hand, we’ve also had professional politicians mislead us by misrepresenting themselves. And it’s those people, the professional politicians, in this country who I have the most contempt for.

Too many times all of you have kissed our babies and promised us a better life by charging things we can’t afford on our hard work. Too many times all of you have taken our credit card and rang the register with little or no regard to how the balance will be paid.

In many ways you were our elders, you were who we entrusted to do the right thing, you were our parents. Instead what we got were two bickering spouses who try to out spend each other because it makes them “feel better.”

We may not see the ramifications of the downgrade overnight. But we’ll be the one’s paying for it. We’ll be paying for it in higher interest rates and less purchasing power. It was all avoidable had our elected officials known when to say when and stop getting drunk at our expense.

It’s embarrassing and the only way to remedy it is by reining in the power we’ve given you. By voting you out of office and setting term limits on your service. After all you work for us, you’re our employees. Act like it.

As some of you who follow me may know, I love food. I talk, tweet, take photos and Urbanspoon about it regularly. Traveling to Memphis is pretty close to a culinary nirvana for me and I’m sure to visit places I love as well as try out a few new ones while I’m here. 

One thing to note when eating in Memphis, don’t take worry about the sides – just focus on the entrees.

Leading off this dining discovery is the Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street. Most every place you’ll visit in downtown Memphis has tremendous character and Rum Boogie is no exception. When I’m eating I enjoy a place with great atmosphere and this place never lets me down. With autographed guitars from an assortment of celebrities, to signing your own name on the walls, this is a must stop on Beale.

I’ve sampled a few things on the menu at the Rum Boogie, but without hesitation I can tell you the pulled pork sandwich is the best. In the photos below you’ll see the sandwich and this particular one may have been the best one I’ve had from Rum Boogie. The pork shoulder was freshly pulled mere moments from landing on my plate and was so tender and juicy it should be considered a delicacy.

Second on the hit list we have Gus’s Fried Chicken. I had never visited Gus’s before but heard great things about it before we departed for Memphis. You may recall from a few years ago that I am a fan of fried chicken making Gus’s a must visit.

Gus’s is not your typical fried chicken. It’s spicy. And it’s very good. One thing that is a letdown when having fried chicken is being timid to order the white meat because you’re concerned it may be dry, that’s the worst. Have no fear Gus’s is fried to perfection all the way through.

I’ve been asked where Gus’s ranks among the best fried chicken I’ve tried and I’ll tell you it’s near the top. It’s always difficult for me to rank things, especially food, because we all have different tastes and what I like you may not so I just try not to do that. With that said, Gus’s is safely on the shortlist of the best.

(One additional note about Gus’s is the pecan pie. It was fantastic. When I walked out the door all I could think about was how good it was.)

Moving along we’re headed back to Beale and Pig – Pork with Attitude.

Now I shared the “Super Feast” with three other people and on the menu it says it feeds 6-8 people. As you can see in the photos it’s quite a large platter. There were pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken thighs and wings and a bunch of sides no one was particularly interested in.

The barbecue on this plate is as good as I’ve tried in the city. The dry rub ribs took the blue ribbon on this day by far being the tastiest thing on the platter. After massacring the feast it wasn’t fully decided who had won the battle – us or Pig.

Ok, I know this next one may get looked down upon but considering the circumstances of the day we chose to eat at Hard Rock. I’d like to clarify that I prefer eating at local places and I don’t go too much for chains. However, when we decided to have lunch here it was because tornado warning sirens were blaring in downtown and was pouring the rain. Hard Rock was the closest safe harbor we could find.

After looking the menu over all I could think of was mac and cheese, partly because I had it on my mind from earlier in the week, also because I love mac and cheese. But after giving careful consideration I needed something heavier for what would be a long day, I choose the bacon cheese burger. 

Now I’m not an expert on burgers nor do I regularly eat them but I do appreciate a good one when the time is right. This was an excellent selection and after negotiating with the waitress for the mac and cheese as my side it made this a win-win. Overall I was very satisfied with my choice.

That was the end of the first leg of our stop in Memphis and returning to San Antonio was like a palate cleanser. Throw in a couple days worth of tacos, a Spurs OT win and I was ready to return.

On Thursday a suggestion was to give Pearl’s Oyster House a try. I love seafood but have never been fond of oysters. We arrive and it is brought to my attention across the street is Gus’s. With the temptation of delicious fried chicken in the back of my mind I proceed inside to Pearl’s.

For a Thursday night the place was packed. We waited at the bar and I notice one of the cooks grilling a dozen oysters and man did they look delicious. After a table opens up for us sit I give the menu a look and literally wanted to try one of everything on it. I settled for a “Take Two” choosing the fried catfish and lobster tail. The table also ordered a dozen grilled oysters and crab claws (pictured) as appetizers. The claws were amazing, the catfish was very good and the lobster tail was little on the scrawny side, but overall it was a very good meal.

The kitchen was so busy our oysters actually came out after our entrees. Proceeded by some urging from the Express-News’ Mike Monroe and being unable to resist trying those oysters I gave in and it was the right decision. The best oysters I’ve ever eaten hands down and I’m saying they are the best solely on the fact that I’ve never eaten any that I could even say I liked.

At this point in the night I’m usually finished but dessert was calling my name. You’ll see in the photos a lovely photo of chocolate mousse cheesecake and I’m convinced it was the perfect way to finish off such a great meal.

One thing I did not experience at all on my first trip was breakfast. I love breakfast. I think breakfast is the best and most important meal of the day. This morning I was resolute to find a great breakfast spot. With a little help from Sarah at the front desk of the hotel, she suggested Cockadoo’s and it was only a couple of blocks away. I’d never been there so of course I was game.

Walking in I immediately sense this is what I was looking for – a laid back southern country cookin kitchen. If felt like heaven at 9 a.m. Usually the first time at any place I eat I’ll go for their specialty but this morning I wasn’t feeling shredded barbecue pork on top of eggs (shocking that I’d turn this down, I know). Instead I chose the biscuits and gravy with the morning’s breakfast casserole (sausage and egg).

Now typically I’m a big eater for lunch but this morning I couldn’t take down both of these behemoths. I did my best to put them down without feeling like a glutton. The biscuits and gravy were exactly what I needed and imagined – fluffy biscuits with smooth, creamy sausage gravy. I’m not sure what it was with the casserole but it needed something, it was good but something was missing. I sprinkled a little dash of hot sauce on it and it wasn’t quite jiving with my tastes buds. I’ll certainly try Cockadoo’s again but it serves as another reminder for me to stick to trying a restaurant’s specialty dish.

Finally the last stop on the food tour of Memphis, a institution in this city – Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous. Probably the most recognizable spot in the city for getting down on some dry rub pork ribs. I have been here before and it is my friend.

Today’s trip was the first time I’ve been to Rendezvous for lunch. I ordered the ribs and shoulder combination because I was too indecisive to choose one of the other. Having both made a lot of sense in the moment. As you can see by the photo it’s a lot of food and after a huge breakfast this may not have been the smartest idea I’ve ever had. I fought on and finished the ribs but couldn’t quite sink all of the shoulder.

While I’ve always loved Rendezvous, I wasn’t as ‘into it’ this time as usual. The service was good, atmosphere great but the food was just too much for me this time. Maybe it was the big breakfast, maybe my taste buds have changed some, I’m not sure what it was but it wasn’t quite the Rendezvous I always remembered. By no means would I shun anyone from visiting it themselves, it’s certainly an experience anyone who comes to Memphis should have once in their lives. Overall it just wasn’t the ending I expected from such a great week of eating.

I hope you enjoyed a quick tour of some of Memphis’ fine eateries. Check out some of the photos from Beale Street and all the places I ate below. If you have suggestions I should try in Memphis (or any other place for that matter) leave them in the comments section below. I’m always looking for a new place to try!

With the birthday just a week away I wanted to run down the Top Ten gifts I have either purchased for myself or received as a gift. I am thankful for being so blessed. Only one of the photos shown is actually my stuff, the rest I did the best I could find an accurate representation of them.

7. MacBook Pro

 

6. Castle Grayskull