Since we knew we weren't going to make our usual trivia game tonight, the wife and I decided to try the game at one of the local bars here. The bar's chalkboard advertised an 8 pm game, but it never materialized.

But in the spirit of the thing, here are five questions that I've come up with inspired by our attempt at local nerdiness:

What ale claims to be Ireland's oldest? Smithwicks (Ted) - since 1710, according to the advertising material they had at the bar.

What TV host's middle name, McFeeley, was the last name of his maternal grandfather? Fred Rogers (Scott) - this is in honor of New York Giants kicker (assuming he hasn't been cut yet) Jay Feely, who went 0-3 down the stretch in an OT loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The name "cole slaw" came to English via "koolsla," a term for cabbage salad in what language? Dutch (Paul) - they aren't just about windmills, tulips, and lax drug laws.

Who hold the record for most consecutive games played in the NFL? Jeff Feagles (Brian) - I'm in JD's camp on this one, given the turnover at that position.

What explorer's first trip to North America was on the Matthew? Giovanni Caboto, aka John Cabot (Anthony) - as the bar is located on Cabot Street, I figured I'd throw this in for some nominal non-pop culture content.

Two interesting notes from today:

1. The car rolled over 40000 miles. It seems like a lot given that we've only had the car for two and one-third years, but it has gone to Detroit, Pittsburgh, South Jersey (twice) and Hilton Head (in addition to the numerous trips to Maine). The good news is that, it being a Toyota Corolla, we've probably only used about 15 to 20 percent of its lifespan.

2. I learned a new word today: pharyngitis. It's a general term for an inflammation of the tonsils and back of the throat, and I'm non-plussed to say I'm currently fending it off. Started with a sore throat on Wednesday that, rather than going away conveniently after a day or two, has decided to set up housekeeping.

Not 100 percent sure what's causing it, but based on the prescriptions I got today (antibiotic and ibuprofen to take the edge off the sore throat) I'm assuming it's not strep or some other viral cause.

As you can imagine, it made for a fun holiday weekend, though I was able to power through it to enjoy Thanksgiving and a visit from the in-laws, and a pair of confounding BU hockey games - a 1-0 win over two-time national champ Denver (the first shut-out for the backup goalie) and a 6-5 OT loss to Colorado College which saw the Icedogs score two goals in the last two minutes - only to cough up the game-winner in the first minute of the extra period. Also notable was that a CC player managed a hat trick and four penalites (of the 19 total called in the game). The celebration for the former is obvious, but what do you throw on the ice for the latter? Handcuffs?

While most of us are enjoying turkey today, it looks like Jeffrey Loria is carving himself up some Marlins.

Beckett and Lowell to the Red Sox, Delgado to the Mets. Expect Dontrelle Willis, Jack McKeon, Miguel Cabrera, and Juan Pierre to be sent somewhere in return for single-A players and a bag of balls.

Marlins management refuses to call this a fire sale, opting instead to say they're tailoring the roster to fit their revenues. This also came about as the team announced they're going to pull up stakes if they can't get a stadium deal done, which while understandable - they've been playing in Dolphins Stadium too long - just adds to the Era of Cheap Feelings that's being reborn in south Florida.

That Loria's been through this before when he owned the Montreal Expos is hardly cause for optimism. I mean, look at the farce that became before the team was moved. All I'm saying is that when Loria sells the Marlins and they become the Las Vegas Croupiers, beware if he comes sniffing around to buy your favorite team.

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving to one and all - and especially baseball fans in Miami, who could use the positive distraction.

Former RA, current trivia compatriot, now blogger: please welcome Mason to the links at left. He's easily the youngest of the linked bloggers, which should be good for something. He's also often half-loaded, which should also be good for something (hey, he says as much in his first post).

It looks a little discordant to see the single-name link, but given that my wife may be the only person I know who regularly uses his first name - and even then not 100 percent of the time - it's fitting.

OK, Craig, I hope you're happy - I got to go 0-2 for BU-Michigan basketball tilts, as the Wolverines made the trip east and knocked off the Terriers 51-46. Which bookends the 1989 Rumeal Robinson homecoming, a 73-65 win for Michigan.

Michigan got an early lead and was able to keep BU at bay most of the night, though we did get the deficit down to 2 in a number of places. It's hard to decide what was most frustrating:

* Michigan scoring 12 of the game's first 16 points,

* The number of shots missed by BU from within three feet (heck, one foot) of the basket,

* Guard Brian Macon continually falling for a hardwood version of the neutral zone trap - he'd get over half-court, bring the ball to the side, and get hemmed in by a couple of defenders. This had to have happened a good half-dozen times.

Even if the Michigan of now isn't quite the Michigan of the Fab 5, a threepeat would have been huge for a program like BU's. Now the hopes for a win over a "major" opponent lie in next Tuesday's game against URI (I have scant hopes of winning at George Washington, given that they've gotten back to top 25 form, and even if you don't consider Bucknell major, they play like they are; I suppose a win at UMass isn't completely out of the cards).

I just hope there's some sort of crowd. There was no listed attendance on the box score available from the BU athletic web site, but if I had to guess I'd say 2500 people were at the game. Which is pretty good for a BU hoops game, but sadly typical for the level of support the program gets.

On a vaguely related note, I was amused to see that Michigan has a guy whose sole job appears to be handling stools for the players to sit on during time-outs (picture, if you will, director's chairs without backs or arms). At the time out he'd set them up on the court in a little semi-circle, and when the time out was over he'd take them back and sit with them at the end of the bench.

I really hope this guy has duties I don't know about. Otherwise, I'd suggest to the Michigan tax-payers who read this that they should contact their elected officials.

Prior to the game, the wife and I had dinner at the Super 88 Market Food Connection, a food court connected to an Asian supermarket. It was fantastic! I had a chance to try both a grilled pork and a grilled beef bahn mi, a Vietnamese sub sandwich. I would highly recommend either; the pork has a somewhat sweet sauce, while the beef was quite spicy. And at only $2.75 a pop, it's hard to go wrong. Though next time, I'll try the pho with one of the sandwiches I haven't tried yet.

While it's not the sort of "butterfly causes hurricane" example of chaos theory that everyone loves, our foray to play trivia last week was caused by an unusual chain of events.

The wife and I were not going to play last week, and we made plans to ride home on the train together. I normally catch one that leaves North Station at 5:25, and we planned to meet and get on that train.

That was until I got stuck late at work and suffered a s l o w T ride and arrived at the station around 5:30. At this point, the 5:37, the next train home, was delayed due to a mechanical problem. So we waited. And waited some more.

No train was forthcoming.

Adding to this was the arrival of passengers for the next train - one that, according to other passengers, is often cancelled. Meaning that there could be three trainloads of commuters trying to squeeze on to the 6:10.

Off to trivia we went.

And, to make a long story short, the wife and I came in second, losing by a single point. This week's questions will give you a taste of how that came about:

What musician and producer performed the song "Cruel to Be Kind" and wrote "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" for Elvis Costello? Nick Lowe (Shawn) - For some reason I got stuck on Nick Cave during the question, which is clearly wrong but was also impossible to clear out of my head. The only other Nick I could come up with was Nick Drake, which wasn't right, either. And on top of everything, I now need to download "Cruel to Be Kind."

Manitoulin Island, the world's largest freshwater lake island, is located in what country? Canada (Paul) - We got this right, but out lack of surety led to us bidding only 6 of a possible 10 points. D'oh.

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, a painting seen in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, was done by what artist? Georges Seurat (Greg) - I had no idea, and the wife's answer of Manet was as good as any. Seurat was bandied about briefly, but not seriously.

The 1977 film Grand Theft Auto was the writing and directorial debut for what Oscar-winning director? Ron Howard (Greg) - now this I'm pissed at myself about. I know that Steven Spielberg's first film was Duel. I know that Ron Howard was older than Richie Cunningham, and thus could have written and directed his first film in 1977. But I went with Spielberg anyway. Stupid me!

The protozoan Plasmodium is responsible for what disease? Malaria - this was our first thought, be we then thought that malaria was caused by a virus and looked elsewhere. We wound up answering typhus (or typhoid fever, can't remember).

David Adkins is the real name of what comedian (hint: his stage name uses just six letters)? Sinbad (James) - we thought about this one for a long time, and we used pretty much all of our time up before the wife mentioned Teller of Penn and Teller. Seemed good to me. I know, you may be thinking that Teller isn't much of a comedian, what with the not talking and all. But how much of a comedian is Sinbad, really?

Not too much to report from the weekend past - I nearly killed myself by eating too much on Saturday (note to self: never combine a large lunch with a birthday dinner, especially when dessert is the size of a small manhole), and Sunday got to take the youngest nephew to his hockey game (one goal and three trips to the penalty box; the former is pretty normal for him, the latter not so much).

Caught the tail end of the Pats game, and I can't say I'm much relieved. The idea that they have to hang on against the Saints is worrisome. Thank God they play in the AFC East, where 10-6 will win the division.

Only other thing of note is that we got our trivia reward on Thursday, as we went to the Bruins-Maple Leafs game. Were this a "good, bad, ugly" post, the time spent with friends would have been the good, the result the bad (Leafs, 4-1), and the Bruins' generally atrocious play (especially on the penalty kill) the ugly.

Let's just say that, for the next tournament, I'd prefer the tour of the Sam Adams plant, even though I can go on that any old time.

I'm a week behind in posting about bar trivia, the good part being that we returned to our trivia bully ways last week with a win. The bad part is that I now have a sheet of answers to which I'm not sure if I remember the questions. I'll do the best I can.

I'll post about this week next week, as the wife and I will be at the BU-Michigan hoops game at Harry's House. Come to think of it, we'll be there for BU-URI the following Tuesday, too. I'll have to talk her into playing the local game in Beverly one of these Sunday nights.

Anyway, some questions from the best of my recollections (and a couple rewritten a bit):

What 1981 movie was both Sean Penn's first and Tom Cruise's second? Taps (Greg) - We didn't remember this at all, which led us to guessing The Outsiders, which was clearly wrong from the year.

What are the birth stones for the following months: February, April, September, and November? Amethyst (Shawn), Diamond (Greg), Sapphire, Topaz - without getting too gender-stereotypical, the two women on the team got all of this pretty much as they were being said. I'd have known April; you'd think I'd remember November, it being the wife's birthstone and all.

What state ranks third, behind California and New York, in revenue from film, TV, and commerical production? North Carolina - The way the question was originally asked had North Carolina second, but as I couldn't remember the way it was worded I went with the way I could most easily verify. This was made a little easier for us when the emcee gave a clue of "Dawson's Creek," which was shot in Wilmington.

Twiggy Ramirez is the bassist for what band? Marilyn Manson (Greg) - We were stuck between the actual answer and Limp Bizkit. Well, not so much "we" as the one person on the team who'd heard of Twiggy Ramirez. He went with the not correct answer, which we could hardly fault him for, what with the lack of knowing.

What author created the wild beasts known as yahoos? Johnathan Swift (Jack) - In Gulliver's Travels, as indicated.

It's November 14th and the temperature outside is somewhere around 60 degrees. I'd go off on my usual concern here, but when the next day like this probably won't be until April, I'll chalk it up to a climatological hiccup and enjoy.

I'll certainly enjoy it more than some residents of Stoughton who, in less than a week, went from having a quiet neighborhood to being auxillary parking for the new IKEA there. We have some IKEA stuff, and we'll likely make a trip down in the next few weeks. We'll try not to park on anyone's lawn.

I was not surprised to see a message when I got in to work this morning. I was surprised that it was from Boston mayoral candidate Maura Hennigan.

I was also not surprised that she was calling to ask for my vote. Though, as someone who doesn't live in Boston, I wasn't able to help her very much.

As it turns out, she could have used my vote, and whole lot more. The Menino dynasty continues unimpeded, with four more years of marginally comprehensible mayorality on the offing.

In other news, the guy I know who was running for mayor of Brockton did not win, but he did manage to get 44 percent of the vote. Closer to home, our mayor got re-elected pretty handily. That surprised me a little, given how worked up people were over the state of city finances when we moved to town.

Our ward elected a new city councilor, in kind of an interesting race that some pitted as one divided by the major street that runs through the middle of the ward. The winner lives on the side of the street closer to the ocean, while the loser does not. Neither do we, but I voted for the woman who won, mostly because she was the only candidate to make concrete statements about issues. Everyone else either wanted further study (such as on the high school, which two studies have already determined needs to be replaced) or changes without suggesting a new plan (such as everyone who wanted to get rid of the trash fee, but had no way of replacing the lost revenue).

I was a little surprised to see stories about this being a national test, given that the biggest races were for NJ and VA governorships already held by the Dems. I suppose that they kept them means something, especially given W's jaunt into Virginia to stump for the GOP candidate. Though given the money and dirt involved in the NJ race, the meaning is appropriately muddy.

Can't really speak to the Governator getting shot down on all of his proposals. Perhaps the lone Californian linked at left will say something.

The Good - The alma mater that still has football is riding a two-game winning streak, as Manchester-Essex has posted back-to-back wins over Northeast Regional and Minuteman Regional. Nicely done!

The Bad - Not only might we have a third undefeated team to gum up the works in college football - hello, Alabama - the AP voters have also put a one-loss team, Miami, ahead of them in their poll. The BCS still has Alabama in third - barely. Perhaps a little too early to decry flaws in the BCS - again - but it's not looking good.

The Ugly - Colts over Pats 40-21. Ugh.

I was contemplating what I was going to write - there having been a whole lot of nothing to take up the week - when I noticed that my tape giveaway page had today as its day of last update. I found this odd, as I don't think I've touched (or even looked) at the page in a good month, if not longer.

To the best of my knowledge, the update date includes comments. Those comments appear to be, by and large, comment spam. While I feel compelled to clean the comments out, I can't say I'm particularly motivated to do it right now.

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the lack of questions I didn't go to bar trivia this week. Qualifying for the next tournament starts this coming Tuesday, so it'll be back to it then. However, one of my teammates went out last Wednesday and, by chance, wound up at a place that also does bar trivia. He sent some questions, so I'll throw those at you instead:

What shoe company was the first to have an athlete as an endorser? Converse (Greg) - as noted, the erstwhile Chuck Taylors.

What are the tallest mountains in the US, Japan, France, and Greece? Denali, Fuji, Mont Blanc, and Olympus (Greg).

In 1969, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, who became the first non-Brit depicted on a postage stamp?

What four musicians recorded the Burt Bacharach song "That's What Friends are For" in 1985 as a fundraiser for AIDS research? Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John (Allyson).

What type of bear is the world's largest land carnivore? Brown Kodiak bear - Looking back, the question as emailed to me noted the largest "ever recorded," not the more general sense that I gave it hear. I suck.

While I can't say I've been following the whole Theo Epstein saga very much, there are four things I think I've taken from it.

1. Using the Star Wars paradigm, Larry Lucchino is Darth Vader rather than Obi Wan Kenobi to Theo's Luke Skywalker.

2. While it's pretty senseless to get worked up over a GM - not that it's stopping anyone here, as, like Jello, there's always room for Red Sox melodrama - the likely candidates to replace Theo are, in a word, underwhelming. The two names that seem to crop up a lot are Towers - a Lucchino crony who had spent the last decade shaping the baseball force that is the San Diego Padres - and DiPodesta, who spent a jillion dollars to shape the Los Angeles Dodgers into a team that couldn't overtake the Padres if it had sails and a favorable gale.

Of course, the way these things seem to be going there's a 23 year old economics grad from Stanford who will be offered the job in a couple of weeks.

3. Perhaps the biggest (only?) winner in all of this is the Boston Herald, which has dedicated increasing numbers of column inches to the role of the Boston Globe, the local paper of record and minor stakeholder in the Red Sox, in this fiasco. I can't say I'm a big fan of the Herald's descent into becoming the New York Post's second cousin, but times like these does illustrate the beauty of being a two-paper town.

4. Regardless of all of this, people will still be paying a boatload of cash in 2006 to see a team you could have seen for a fraction of a price in 2005 when the players were in Pawtucket and Portland. There's a certain chutzpah in a team like the Red Sox going into a youth movement, almost a dare that fans won't pay $75 to see the Yawkey Way version of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Though it's not much of a dare, as the owners know that fans will blink.

Good thing hockey is back; it'll give me something to focus on until mid-June. Not that the Bruins will be playing that late.