More ketchup

We did go to trivia last week, Margarita’s again. We are 2 for 2 there, blowing the competition away by earning 28 points out of 40. This time, there were 5 of us so we each got a free dinner certificate and a Coors Light cooler bag filled with bar giveaways like keychains, Frisbees, a hat, a towel and a water bottle. We divied it up the loot and vowed to return.
The ones we missed:
*What is the strongest bone in the human body?
*What do chefs consider the "magic spice"?
*Which finger has the fastest growing nail?
*True or False, Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a 50,000 word book titled Gadsby without using the letter "y"?
*Who is the oldest Beatle?
*What are the holes in Swiss cheese called?

A few we got:
*What has 354 steps?
*Which city has the largest Chinatown?
*What does the symbol AU represent on the periodic table?
*Which country’s tradition includes a 3-month honeymoon paid for by the bride? A) India B) Algeria C) Morocco or D) Thailand
*Who did Blondie Boopadoop marry?
*On what 2 parts of a dog can sweat glands be found?
*Where do the biggest consumers of SPAM live?
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House-closing proceedings are going well. Here are a few pics of the new pad

Front of house

Kitchen

Living room

Kickin' daylight basement we will, one day, finish

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T-minus 3 days until we are on vacation. Tall Guy's family is visiting and it has been lovely so far though we are jealous because they can go do fun things and we have to work. We will go up to Lake Cobbosseecontee (outside of Augusta) this weekend to hang with extended family then we will go down to Gloucester (Mass) to spend some time with my family. I see lots of wine and board games in our future.
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Answers
-jawbone or mandible
-pepper
-the middle finger
-False, he didn’t use the letter "e" – yes, we should’ve known that one by its title. I really want to read this now - it's online here in its entirety.
-Ringo Starr
-eyes
-the Statue of Liberty
-San Francisco
-gold
-Thailand
-Dagwood Bumstead
-nose and paws
-Hawaii

Trivia and a House for Imaginary Friends

Last night I almost caught up on the sleep I lost devouring Book 7 of Harry Potter this weekend. Tall Guy and I watched The Princess Bride and I was reminded how much I like that movie. And the book; it's a great book, written by William Goldman. I should read some of his other books.
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We switched up our trivia night last week, going to Margarita's on Wednesday night instead of RiRa's on Tuesday (and you thought Maine was boring). We were a team of 9 and we absolutely blew the competition away. The place had about 1/4 of the people that RiRa's gets, but we ate some tasty Mexican food while we answered all but 5 questions right (scoring 32 out of 40). We won two free dinners and a huge Mexican vase-thing stuffed with margarita glasses and a pitcher. Not bad. Here're the questions I can remember 6 days later:

*What is the largest seed?
*Statistically, what is the safest age for a human?
*The Abominable Snowman is associated with which part of the world?
*Which army was the first to introduce canned food?
*Where on the human body can 20 moons be found?
*Where was Rocky Racoon’s home?
*How many horses on a polo team?
*What are the 3 kinds of rocks?
*What color is the Teletubby Dipsy?
*How long does antibacterial soap have to be left on the skin to work?
*What is the plural form of the word scampi?
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And, as I've mentioned before, trivia reminds me of our search for a place to call home. So, the BIG news: Tall Guy and I are HOMEOWNERS. Well, almost. It's all contingent on a home inspection and financing, but we're pretty darned close. The house is a very cute 3BR colonial in South Portland. The inspection is Thursday so I'll take some pics and post them after that.
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Answers:
Coconut
10 years old
Himalayas
Napoleon’s
Finger and toenails
black mountain hills of Dakota
4
Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic
Green
Two minutes
Scampo

Headin' for Canada

Sweet, Jesus, it's time to get out of the country. This article has me more terrified than watching Paris Hilton giggle her way through a SADD meeting. A taste:
Bush butt probed, Cheney in charge
"President Bush would be having his butt checked out which meant that while Bush was going through the colonoscopy, Vice President Dick Cheney would be in charge of the nation.
"It's a chilling thought," one passerby told AXcess News when asked if they were concerned over Cheney's short-term rule of the White House."
Chilling. Can that even begin to describe the thought?

Lots of big goings-on in Portland, but it's 6:25 and I'm still at work. I am going to go and drink a beer. I may blog again tonight. I may wait a little longer. I'm pretty sure I have some good trivia questions from this week's foray into a different restaurant's Trivia Night. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we bought a house this week.

Ketchup Post

Prolly gonna be a long one...

Things I've learned in the past week:
*Face-to-face negotiations are hard. We decided to put an offer on a house that was for sale by owner. So with no realtors to do the whole back-and-forth thing, we had to stand in a kitchen and give our offer (which I typed up, of course). We had to justify it and watch the immediate reaction of the sellers. Then, we had to go downstairs so they could talk about it, come back up to hear the counter-offer, go into another room to talk about that, offer our counter-offer. Tired yet? It was nerve-wracking and weird, but a little heady, too. The sellers ended up asking for the night to think about our "final" offer. They called us in the morning with an even worse counter-offer so we had to walk away. Basically, they were willing to pay a buyer's agent 3% so they were only willing to come down from their selling price by 3%. We have no buyer's agent and no mortgage contingency and no financial speedbumps to hinder a quick close, but they couldn't see any of that. They wanted their asking price minus 3% and that's it. We didn't feel the need to come "up" to their price - there are 4 other houses for sale on this same street. So, we will keep looking. Also thinking of getting a buyer's agent, which I just haven't wanted to do. Drat real estate.

*Losing sucks. We lost in the first round of the kickball finals on Thursday night. I think that the week off hurt us, made us rusty. At least that's what I tell myself. We had a terrible 1st inning in which our opponent scored 3 runs; we just couldn't recover, so we went down 5-2. The upside, Tall Guy and I got to luxuriously ref the next game with a beer in our hands. And, the team that beat us went on to beat the #1 seed in the semi-final rounds, which was sweet since the #1 seed is made up of uber-competitive, college-aged kids who did not expect to lose.

*TOOL rocks. Hard. Fulfilled a music-fantasy by seeing Tool in concert at the Cumberland Civic Center on Friday night. I have loved this band since college though it probably would have been better had I seen them closer to my post-college days: by the end of the 2.5 hour show, my ears felt like they were bleeding and my feet were killing me from standing the entire time. Seriously, I only think I can hang with the young kids. Still, a great show filled with a mix of songs from their 3 major albums, "10,000 Days," "Aenima" and "Undertow."

*Ocean waves are so much fun with little kids. Had a belated father's day celebration this weekend in Portland. Both of my brothers came up, along with my dad, and we went to the beach, one with big waves. My niece and nephew had a heckofa time jumping over waves, well, being lifted over waves by Aunt Me and Uncles My Younger Bro and Tall Guy. My back was sore on Sunday morning, but I haven't had that much fun at the beach since I was probably their age.

*Silent movies shouldn't be over 90 minutes. Sorry film snobs, but a silent movie, i.e. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), shouldn't come close to being 3 hours (the version we watched, the short version, was 2 hours and 58 minutes). I understand that this movie was ground breaking and ambitious and artful, but I clearly lack the capacity to sit through that much sepia-toned film and orchestral music. I give props to my husband, who not only sat through it, but really enjoyed it. It did make a rainy Sunday afternoon seem lazier, but so would watching puddles fill.

*Trivia is overrated. We went back. And it was as painful as Tall Guy remembered. The emceeing was still terrible and some of the answers suspect (we found out that the game orginates from Germany), but this week we got to stand through the entire 2.5 hours! We have decided to try a different trivia night, at a different restaurant. But, if you actually got all the way down to this part of the post, you deserve a treat:

*On the show "Married with Children," what kind of dog is Buck?
*During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were famous for what, aside from their athletic success?
*What famous children's book character was created by Astrid Lindgren?
*On what plant do silkworms exclusively feed?
*What actor played Blake Covington on the tv show "Dynasty"?
*Who gave up his seat to J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson on the fatal flight in 1959 that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens?
*During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln had a residence in which state?
*According to Roman legend, who pulled a thorn out of a lion's paw?
*What type of craft is the Breitling-Orbiter 3?
*How old was the Lindberg baby when he was kidnapped?
*What does a viticulturist grow?

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Happy nuptials to Corissa & Brian in San Francisco. This means that every friend I made while living in Connecticut back in 2000 is now married. If you want to get married, go live in Connecticut.

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Answers:
-Briard - here's a picture:









-"Black Power Salute" while receiving their medals
-Pippi Longstocking - great books
-Mulberry tree
-John Forsythe
-Waylon Jennings
-Illinois
-Androcles - He was a slave. The lion later recognized him in a gladiator arena and spared his life. The emperor Tiberius was said to have freed them both.
-Balloon
-20 months
-Grapes

Trivial

It's early Thursday morning. I just went to my osteopath (for my lower back and hip pain - yes, some days I might be 80), which apparently makes my breakfast digest faster, so I'm hungry and lunch is over 2 hours away. All of this is a long explanation for this week's trivia topic: food. We, once again, boycotted trivia, this time in favor of a Sea Dogs baseball game. So, I found my own trivia. Here it is:

*What is the most recognizable smell in the world?
*If the Japanese delicacy fugu pufferfish isn’t prepared by an expert chef, what will happen to the eater?
*How many pounds of cheese does the average American eat per year?
*Spilling salt is considered good luck in which country?
*According to superstition over which shoulder should you sprinkle salt?
*What was E.T.’s favorite candy?
*In which decade was the Slurpee introduced – 1960s, 70s or 80s?
*Who was the first Ronald McDonald?
*How many eggs does Paul Newman’s character eat in the movie Cool Hand Luke?

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Because trivia and house-hunting seem to go hand-in-hand in my mind, I'll provide a brief update. We found a condo - it's great, we want it. In crunching numbers, we have realized that it might mean stretching ourselves to purchase it, which is mind-boggling since my house in Mass cost 2 times as much and we made less money. Perhaps, we're being too conservative, but I just fear the house-poor situation I just left behind. We press on...
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Answers:
Coffee
S/he’ll die (it’s poisonous if not prepared correctly)
28 lbs.
Japan
Left
Reese’s Pieces
1960s – 1965 to be exact, at 7Eleven
In 1962 Willard Scott of the Today Show and Bozo the Clown fame became the first Ronald McDonald
50

Makin' my own fun

First of all, happy summer! It's freakin' gorgeous out, here in Portland.

Due to last week’s egregious emceeing at the local trivia night, we decided to skip it this week in protest (I’m sure that guy really missed us). In lieu of “pub trivia,” here is some good ol’ fashioned U.S. presidential history followed by trivia about my new home state.

*Who were the tallest and shortest presidents?
*Who was the only bachelor president?
*Which president served the shortest term?
*What was the first movie shown in the White House?

*What percent of the country’s lobster is caught off the coast of Maine?
*Portland is the birthplace of what famous poet, author of "Paul Revere’s Ride"?
*How many and which other U.S. states does Maine border?
*What is the nickname for Maine?
*How fast can a moose run?
*The state motto is Dirigo, also the name of a high school and health system in the state. What does it mean (in Latin)?
*What is the name of the largest indigenous Indian tribe in the state?
*What do the call letters of WCSH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Portland, stand for?

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‘Cause I can’t resist reporting about the stupidity of some people out there, here is a story about some candidates for a Darwin Award. Notice that I didn't mention that they are southern. I hope they at least got to smoke a cigarette.
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Apartment search update: We gave up the great place we had found because it meant taking a risk and putting down a bunch of money without knowing that our current place would definitely be rented. So, the bad news is we lost a pretty awesome apartment. The good news is we don’t have to move next week and we can now leave our lease when it’s actually up thereby ensuring we get our security deposit back. Because we can't accept having leisure time for some reason, we have now turned our eyes toward purchasing a home and have filled every available minute looking at possibilities. Between apartment and house hunting, I'm pretty sure we've been in over 2 dozen homes in the area. An important lesson learned: Tall Guy's head is higher than many ___________ (insert here: ceilings/stairwells/basements/showers).
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Answers:
*Lincoln at 6’4” and Madison at 5’4”
*James Buchanan
*William Henry Harrison (1 month)
*Birth of a Nation

*90%
*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 2/2/1807
*One – New Hampshire
*Pine Tree State is the official nickname, but Vacationland is the other, more accurate, nickname (hint hint, come visit)
*About 30 mph
*"I lead" or "I direct"
*Abenaki
*Congress Square Hotel, owned by the founder of WCSH radio and television

I'm not normally a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me, Superman!!*

Trivia last night was one of the most contentious contests to date. In the first round, a question was asked about a 4-sided shape with 2 parallel sides. A trapezoid, right? Wrong. A trapezium. A word that none of us had heard.
From Wikipedia: "A trapezoid (in North America) or trapezium (in Britain and elsewhere) is a quadrilateral, which is defined as a shape with four sides, which has a pair of parallel sides...The exactly opposite concept, a quadrilateral that has no parallel sides, is referred to as a trapezium in North America, and as a trapezoid in Britain and elsewhere."

Either way, the answer should have been trapezoid and we should have had a 10 in our first round. Then, at the end of the game, two teams were tied for first (we were not one of them) and the emcee asked "What is the largest American city?" One guy said, "New York". Incorrect according to the announcer. "Los Angeles" said the other. Correct. When conducting a search, by population, of our largest American cities, by population within city limits: NY=8.2 million. LA=3.8 million. Maybe he meant metro area? NY metro area=18.8 million . LA? 12.9. We are definitely starting to question where this game gets its facts.

Moving on...

The title of my post was a question - which animated character said it? D'oh.

The ones we missed, whether due to horrendous question reading by the emcee, or otherwise:
*Who composed the musical/story "Peter and the Wolf"?
*Yasser Arafat had a state funeral in which country?
*According to Islamic law, after having sex with a lamb, it is considered a mortal sin to do what? The answer is NOT smoke a cigarette
*From which plant does linseed oil come?
*What is the only capital mentioned in Genesis still in existence today?

Two questions we overthought when the simple, obvious answer was right:
*At the Siege of Yorktown, to which general did General Lord Cornwallis surrender?
*What is the term for the asexual reproduction of an organism resulting in a new multicellular organism genetically identical to another? Or something like that.

And, 'cause we're not total morons:
*What is the name for a triangle in which all sides or angles are different?
*What was the title of the tv show about a Canadian mountie who settles in Chicago?
*Who's first novel was The Time Machine?
*What is removed when an orchidectomy is performed?
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Still no word on our apartment front. Found the perfect place. Check. The owners want to rent it to us. Check.
Hurdles one and two down. However, we just can't bear the thought of eating our original security deposit if our current place doesn't re-rent. So, we now play the waiting game as our landlady tries to get new tenants and we cross everything we can (and I mean everything).
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Answers:
It was Homer Simpson and I totally agree with him
Sergei Prokofiev
Egypt (we put France, which is where he died)
Eat it
Flax
Damascus
George Washington (we put Horatio Gates cause Purple Peter wrote a paper on this Battle in, like, 9th grade and remembered that name)
cloning (not meiosis)
scalene
"Due South"
H.G. Wells
testicle (ouch)

Social Butterflies

Attended a work event Tuesday night – a lovely cocktail reception to celebrate the people who have given to the UW endowment – at which our brightest, bubbliest selves were required. This event also required that we dress up, so once the reception ended, Tall Guy and I high-tailed it to trivia wearing a suit and heels, respectively. People were impressed with our dedication. The fancy duds did little to help our scores; the questions were tough this week and we didn't fare too badly, but we didn't win. Final score 38 - the winners pulled in a 42.

The questions that got away:
*Who wrote "A Long Day's Journey Into Night"?
*According to Greek mythology, who founded Carthage?
*What is the gestational period of a horse?
*What is the country where couscous orginated?
*Which NFL team won the Super Bowl in 1981 as the Wild Card?
*In which country was Florence Nightingale born?
*In the game of Snooker, how much is the yellow ball worth?
*What is another name for the mountain lion?
*Which African animal kills the most humans per year? (no, the answer is not other humans)

A couple that we got, just to show that we're not blithering idiots:
*What is the second largest ethnic population in Iraq after Arabs?
*Which African country did the U.S. bomb in January 2007?
*An egg does not contain which of the following vitamins: A, C, or B?
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We are deep in the middle of a hunt for a new apartment. Our current place is nice, but we have never really gotten cell phone reception within the walls of the house (pretty chilly when you want to give someone a call in January) and our cable reception was shoddy, too, so much so that we cancelled it back in February and turned entirely to Netflix for our entertainment. We want a place where we can happily host all the people who come visit (hint hint), and where we can live for a few years until we decide where/when to buy a house. And, we have found a place that we love, but we are cutting out early on our lease and have to make sure that our current place is rented before we put down $$ on the new place. Ah, the joys of renting.
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Answers:
Eugene O'Neill
Queen Dido (I went with the patriarchal angle of Aeneus)
11 months
Libya
The Raiders (I erased this in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles who, in fact, have NEVER won a Super Bowl
Italy
2
Puma (pronounced by the Irish emcee as pume-ah, which for some reason was hilarious)
crocodiles

Kurds
Somalia
Vitamin C

Ouch!

Trivia was not kind to us this week. The Beards finished at an all-time low of 10 points behind the leaders. We added 4 people to our usual team and for the first few rounds, this seemed to help us, but then we fell apart and argued too many questions thereby causing us to erase many “gut reaction” answers, which often turned out to be right, and go with the loudest voice.
Not a great strategy.
I can’t say that I took any questions myself, except for one:
*Which movie had a husband, a perfect wife and a psychotic mistress?

Questions we should/could have gotten but either by erasure or erroneous consensus, we didn’t:
*What is the longest running comedy show on American television?
*What company invented paper towels?
*What is the most popular drink in Greece?
*What is the name of Susan Lucci’s character on whichever soap she’s on?
*What is the most popular board game in the world?
AND, though this is a tough question, I felt with my extensive knowledge of 80s music, I should have gotten it:
*In the 80s, Chubby Checker remixed “The Twist” with what other artist/group?

I’m gonna tell you the answer to this last question right here: The Fat Boys. I had a forehead-smacking moment when I heard this answer while everyone else at the table, all born circa 1980, looked puzzled and said, “Who?”
The Fat Boys, aka Buffy the Human Beat Box, Kool Rock-Ski, and Prince Markie Dee, were 3 large men who became famous in the mid-80s for hip-hop that relied on beatboxing. Basically, anytime you see a white guy trying to imitate scratching a record with his hand over his mouth, thank The Fat Boys (along with Doug E. Fresh). They also did a very nice SWATCH commercial and starred in the smash hit Disorderlies, which I watched over and over on channel 56 (WLVI). Should've gotten that.


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I joined the Maine Kickball League board this week. I get to help plan the end-of-the-season party for 200+ beer-drinking, fun-loving kickers. Woo-hoo.

Our game last night brought a big W for “Rick is 21”. We beat our opponent 9-7 in a twilight game filled with some great fielding, excellent base running and a cooler of beer. I ♥ kickball. I ♥ winning. I ♥ beer.

I ♥ drinking beer while winning a kickball game.

The down side of last night’s game? The “Tall Guy” slid into home and hit the back of his head on the ground. He was dizzy and a little disoriented afterwards. Today, the disorientation continued so he had to go for a head x-ray. A head injury from kickball. Only my husband…
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This weekend brings us to Worcester for my 10-year college reunion. I can’t believe it’s been 10 damn years! It will be good to go and see how many babies I don’t have yet, and how many law degrees and medical practices I haven’t got. And, how few houses on the Cape or Long Island I've bought.
Seriously, the 5-year was fun and it really was good to catch up with some people; it will be good to catch up again five years later. And there will be a free-beer truck. See above to know how I feel about that.
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Answers:
“Fatal Attraction”
“The Simpsons” (we decided that Sat Night Live has been on longer, but it’s considered an “entertainment program” and not a “sitcom”)
Scott
Ouzo (we went with Coca-Cola ‘cause how many 6-year-olds are drinking Ouzo – apparently a lot)
Erica Kane (came up with this 2 minutes after we turned in our answer sheet)
Monopoly

Trivia and a Baby

This week's trivia started out with a bang. Our team tied for the top spot in the first round (there are 6 total) and we felt confident that this was the night that we could take the whole thing. However, we missed a few we should have gotten and totally tanked in the last round and finished 6 points behind the leaders, getting a 42 (out of 60).

Some of the questions I took:
*Stauffer’s is owned by what corporation?
*Who was the first author to write a novel about invaders from another planet?

Some we should/could have gotten:
*How many lives does a cat have?
*What is the most common dog name in America?
*What is the name for a positive electrode?
*What American president started the Peace Corps (I was the one who argued for the wrong answer for this one)?
*Spending 22 hours of the day asleep, what is the laziest animal?

Clearly we need a zoologist or Nature Channel-watcher on our team.

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In exciting family news, we have a new niece, Addison Lila. She was born Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM and weighed in at 7 pounds. Her big sister, Lauren, chose her middle name and contrary to popular culture, Addison’s parents do not have cable and watch zero tv so I don't think it's an homage to “Grey’s Anatomy” – they just really liked the name. We head to New York on Friday to meet her.

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Answers:
Nestlé
H.G. Wells
1, yes we put 9 against Bryan's better judgement – drat trick questions
Max
anode
John F. Kennedy (I could have sworn it was LBJ)
koala bear

Trivia

Every Tuesday night we play trivia at Ri Ra's in the Old Port. This week, with da husband (yes, one of our co-workers has a Maine accent and actually says "da wife") out of town at a UW conference in Pittsburgh, our team was down a geography/sports expert, but still managed to hold our own, finishing with a 38 (the winners had 43).
Questions I took on solo:
*What popular animated series has the characters Dizzy, Scoop & Muck?
*What automobile was the Porsche the sporty version of?

Questions I should have known the answer to, but for some reason couldn't come up with an answer:
*What is the name of the bank in the Harry Potter books?
*What actor was in both "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Dirty Dozen"?
*What is the nationality of Kofi Annan's wife?

Answers below.

I heart trivia. And one of these weeks our team will win.

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This week has also brought the purchase of some Mary Kay products. Yes, I might officially be my mother. A friend is selling the stuff so I had to go hear the pitch over some pizza and wine (essential fortifications when talking about beauty products). At some point, the products jumbled together in a swirling pink cloud around my head until the smell of moisturizer, both with SPF and without, caused me to pass out. Two hours later, my face glowing with tinted facial hydrating gel and my checkbook one short, I left with some hand cleanser and a revitalizing face mask. Could have been so much worse.

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Answers:
Bob the Builder
The VW Beetle
Gringotts
Charles Bronson
Swedish