Last night we had the opportunity to defend our bar trivia Tournament of Champions win, and in grand fashion came in third. We were tied for first going into the final question, and made the classic move of coming up with two possible answers and guessing the wrong one. So rather than getting five Sox tickets and a $200 gift certificate to Eastern Standard, we got a post-work event at the Harpoon brewery and a hat each (summarily dubbed the Hat of Shame).

Still, it's a better prize than the Bruins tickets we won previously. As if I needed another reason to sing the praises of Harpoon, what with all their great beer. Yup, Harpoon is awesome. Seriously; I would not kid about beer.

We were pretty lucky to even be tied going into the last question, as we performed a fair amount of ass-finding in getting correct answers. Anyway, your sampling:

What country's national symbol is a white elephant?

What novel begins, "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." One Hundred Years of Solitude (Matt B.) - there was some talk of this being Hemingway, until the point was made that it's not exactly his style. One of our semi-educated guesses that paid off.

What country's flag bears the motto "Ordem e progresso?" Brazil (Mike B.) - It's a little harder when it's spoken, as you can assume the 'e' is actually a Spanish 'y'. "Ordem" should be a pretty good clue that it's Portuguese, though. I put this down immediately and went with a full 10 point bet. I then got to second guess myself during "Where the Streets Have No Name," thinking that it may be El Salvador or Honduras or wherever that song is about.

What is the capital of Hell in John Milton's Paradise Lost? Pandamoneum (Paul) - if memory serves, the Wikipedia entry has one of those mashed "ae" things where the second 'a' is here. We missed this, as the best we could come up with was "Mayhem." I think that was a suburb.

Name four countries who (going back to pre-Euro days) used the lira/lire as their unit of currency. Italy, San Marino, Vatican City (Cooch)

Gymnophobia is the fear of what? nudity (Jack) - we went with something plant-based due to memories of gymnosperms. None of us had recall of Tobias Funke and his cutoffs, sadly enough.

What music group's early names included The Pendeltones, Kenny and the Cadets, and Carl and the Passions? The Beach Boys (Greg) - I knew there was a Carl in the Beach Boys, which we combined with a hint that it was an older group to make our guess.

What "color" star has the highest surface temperature? blue (Paul) - we thought of both blue and white, but went with white as none of us could think of blue stars. Should have thought back to high school science and talk of how the blue part of a flame was hottest. We didn't, and so no Sox game for us.

Book Log 2006 #17: Oak: The Frame of Civilization by William Bryant Logan

From food to ink to the material used to build bigger and better ships and buildings, this book details the integral part oak played in the development of modern civilization. And it does a pretty good job at that, though I wish the book was actually a little simpler at times, most notably when talking about the new jointing that oak allowed builders to use in building. Having little to no experience in this area, I wasn't always able to follow as well as I'd have liked. The drawings didn't help as much as I'd hoped, either, as they were fairly complicated (to someone like me). The few basic drawings were much more helpful.

I did lose focus as the book went on, I think because so much time was spent on the naval and building uses of oak. I'd have liked more on the balanocultures, groups of people who used the collection of nuts as a primary source of food, for example.

Overall, the book had a good concept but only satisfactory execution. If the topic is of interest, or if you are the type to get suckered in by books about the major impact a particular item had on the world, it's worth a browse I suppose.

I was doing some cleaning at my desk (which is kind of like shoveling against the tide), and came across a coffee mug I was given when I first started at WIT. Nestled below all the pens and such were a pack of Dentyne and a box of Tic-Tacs.

What were they trying to tell me?

Book Log 2006 #16: A Sense of Where You Are by John McPhee

Coming off of The Game I was inspired to read this profile of a Princeton-era Bill Bradley. While addenda cover Bradley's senior season and turn with the Olympic team, the bulk of the book is an extended magazine article that McPhee wrote examining what made Bradley the sort of player - and person - he was at the time.

The tone of the book is kind of off-putting, more of a piece written by someone who is familiar with sports writing for folks who aren't (it's kind of the written equivalent of a piece from NPR's Only a Game). That's not a problem generally, but coming so close on the heels of The Game it was a little distracting. This is pretty easily offset by the great snap-shot of the period in college basketball, and in the life of a college athlete who actually has to concern himself with the college part of things. There are some good pictures at the end, too. So it's worth a look.

In the course of having a Diet Coke with lunch every day, I've been entering codes for the My Coke Rewards program, amassing 72 points to date (you get 3 for every code from a 20 ounce bottle). The assorted prizes for that number of points isn't particularly interesting, so I've taken to browsing what's available for higher point totals.

One high-end prize that caught my eye was the week-long RV vacation, which includes a rental, campground fees, money for gas and mileage, and so forth. To claim this prize, I'd have to amass 28000 points. Taking away my current total, and assuming my current rate of consumption (1 bottle per day, 5 days a week), it would take me approximately 35.8 years to earn enough points to earn this. Sadly, the program's published end date is in 2007, not 2042.

This is where you come in.

All I'm asking is that you email me your cap codes. Once I get 28000 points, we'll start planning the Great Blogalicious RV Extravaganza, to take place at a site central to all of you who donate codes. We'll figure out what to do then - fish, hike, swim, drink, fight crime, whatever. But you have to donate codes first, so get crackin'!

Back after a holiday-and-work-related radio silence. Had the in-laws down for Easter, and celebrated the father-in-law's 65th birthday at the Kowloon, a large Chinese restaurant on Route 1. I didn't watch any of the marathon or the Sox game on Patriot's Day, which I think means I can be legally deported to New Hampshire.

Yesterday was my day to come in early during registration, and we were pretty busy with phone calls and the like. Some students were surprised to learn that when 900 students try to register at the same time, not all of them are going to (a) get access to the registration system, and (b) get into all of their first-choice classes. For the most part, though, students were good-natured about things, which is refreshing.

Getting back to the Easter, the whole Lent thing was a mixed bag this year. My decision to pass up "salty snacks" was doomed from the start, as I'd not done a good job defining my terms. While the words suggested anything salted and snack-like, in my head I had a more limited scope focusing on potato chips and pretzels. Those I managed to avoid, at least.

As for the "saint a day" thing, it didn't do much to increase my faith in the idea of sainthood. Each day I had a choice of anywhere from a half-dozen to a dozen to choose from, and the amount of information available on those choices was mostly underwhelming. When you couple that with the occasional saint who we know nothing about other than that they were on a list somewhere, you can see where it's hard to buy into the system. A little roster-trimming couldn't hurt.

No relation - and even if he was, his choice of schools would keep him from getting invited to the family reunion.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Peter Gonzales

Also known as St. Elmo or St. Telmo (but not the St. Elmo with the fire), in his life Gonzales served as the canon of a cathedral, the chaplain to the court of King St. Ferdinand III, and evangelized throughout Spain.

He was apparently "famous for his penances and mortifications," and hopefully this wasn't connected to his "special fondness for sailors."

Gonzales died on Easter Sunday, so it seemed fitting to mention him on Good Friday.

For what might be the first time ever, I attended a second game in a given Bruins season. A coworker got tickets for last night's home finale through his wife, and so a bunch of us got to see the latest chapter of the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry. We entered a few pages in, though, arriving just as Montreal scored their second goal halfway through the opening period.

It looked like it was going to be bad, and the level of play didn't do much to inspire confidence. Thankfully, Montreal let us hang around, and the first unit played well enough for Patrice Bergeron to net a couple of goals. But the poor play of the other units, and the mediocre goaltending of Tim Thomas, led to a 4-3 final. On a lighter note, we did also see Yan Stastny score his first NHL goal.

The Bruins do have a few guys they can build on, but there's no depth. They need to totally rebuild their second, third, and fourth lines, and there's very little on the blue line to be happy about. I have hopes for Hannu Toivonen in net, and wish they hadn't shut him down after he recovered from an injury earlier in the season.

What I have the least hope for, though, is competent management. Getting rid of Mike O'Connell helps, but until Harry Sinden retires (and, wishful thinking, Jeremy Jacobs sells the team to someone who is actually interested in hockey), I don't see there being a full turn-around. I think they'll get better, but then again, they can't fall much farther. Can they?

First lawn darts, now the fumblerooski.

Following in the footsteps of the NFL and NCAA, the football rules committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations has apparently banned the fumblerooski, where the quarterback intentionally puts the ball on the ground and a lineman (usually a guard) picks it up and runs with it.

Not much mention of it on their website, but I have a feeling it was a modification to rule 7-2-8, which they removed some option to use a "planned loose ball." Sadly, their rule book is only available to members, so I can't confirm this (and no one seems to have posted a copy online, so much for piracy).

The official interviewed on this said removing the fumblerooski would eliminate "confusion" when officials have to rule on the legality of the play. While it's not a common weapon, I don't know how much "confusion" it really creates. The QB puts down the ball. Another player picks it up. That player tries to advance the ball. If that's confusing, wouldn't that make all fumble recoveries confusing? (OK, in a way they all are given the bodies that tend to fly around, but I don't see how the fumblerooski is more confusing).

I'm not sure where legalizing the fumblerooski will be on my platform for public office, but it'll be there.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Caradoc

"Welsh hermit and harpist." I suppose if you're going to be a hermit, having an instrument will help kill some of the down time.

Not much to tell about Caradoc. Early on he was in service to a local king, and one story says he left after losing the king's greyhounds. He turned to the hermit life at that point, moving at one point due to an invasion by King Henry I. I saw one source suggesting that Caradoc had been martyred, but usually that's something Catholic Online would mention, and their entry had not a peep.

There was also a source (which I think was the same one that mentioned the greyhounds) that said Caradoc had never been canonized, but was held as a saint by the rank and file since his death in the 12th century. Not sure how that works, but if I were Valentine or Christopher I'd be pissed.

It also seems that Caradoc originally hails from the same part of Wales as one of the wife's uncles. He doesn't play the harp, though.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Tetricus

A Benedictine abbot, he was made bishop of Auxerre by popular acclaim (so he was voted bishop?), and served well "until his murder by his crazed archdeacon." Method of killing was angular blocks dropped from a height; no word if the archdeacon was Russian.

Sadly I can't find any actual information on the death of St. Tetricus. If you're going to use a phrase like "crazed archdeacon," the least you can do is give some detail.

Well, my big Opening Day adventure has come and gone, and it was great fun. I do wish I'd spent more time in and around the park to soak up the atmosphere and see some of the changes made to Fenway, but I did get to see all of the pre-game and the ripping 5-3 victory over the Jays.

Both anthems were done well (ours by a 5 year old who'd been helped by the Jimmy Fund, Canada's by a local youth choir with an assist from Adam Stern - or as he was called on Sunday's TV broadcast, "Canada's DiMaggio"), and the ceremonial first pitch by the living members of the 1946 pennant-winners was something to see - although the oldest member almost took a tumble afterwards, a problem given that he's 93.

The game itself was reasonably well-played if a little nerve-wracking given the general dearth of scoring after the one big inning. I've gotten a little too used to the 11-7 sort of scores, I think. Beckett pitched very well after a 36 pitch first inning (from where I was sitting it was hard to tell if he was getting squeezed or legitimately missing), and I got to see some accidentally great defense (a DP turned after the ball ricocheted off of Mark Loretta's glove) and accidentally bad defense (Willy Mo Pena riffing on Jose Canseco by having a ball bounce off of him for a home run). Sad to think this will likely be the only game I see in person all year, what with the scarcity (and price) of tickets.

And while I don't have Cooch's gig, I do have my own useless stat of the day: Bronson Arroyo has more home runs right now than Manny Ramirez. He's also tied with David Ortiz. I know that will work itself out, but how could I pass up a mention?

Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Domnio

He is "possibly" the first bishop of Salona, and was sent by St. Peter as part of a group to spread the word in Dalmatia (there's a joke in here somwhere about dominos, Dalmatians, and black-and-white coloring, but I can't find it, and it would probably stink). May have been one of the many, many saints created by Diocletian, which shows you the long-term effects of a persecution. He'd have been better off showing a haughty disdain.

Book Log 2006 #15: The Game by Ken Dryden

The jacket bills this as the greatest book ever written on hockey, and Sports Illustrated has touted it as one of the greatest sports books. I'd agree on both accounts.

The hockey parts are very interesting, especially when it comes to Dryden's own ambivalence about being a professional hockey player. Given the near-mythic status professional athletes have today - even those who play hockey - it's surprising, and a bit refreshing, to get this point of view. It's also entertaining to read Dryden's reflections on his teammates and how Howard Ballard killed the Maple Leafs.

When Dryden talks about the influence of money on the game, and the failure by the NHL management to get a network TV contact, you'd think you were reading something written in the last year or two, not 20 years ago. Dryden also has a section on the ills of structured play time which, in a world where kids have busier schedules than some CEOs, means as much now as it did when it was written.

Highly recommended.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Paternus

An Irish or Scottish hermit, he joined a the Abdinghof Monastery in Westphalia and lived as a hermit in one of its cells. He liked this arrangement quite a bit, as evidenced by his refusing to evacuate when the monastery caught fire. Paternus died in the blaze. He was honored for his devotion to the enclosure rule, which seems a little extreme to me, but that's probably why I'm not headed towards sainthood.

Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Mary Cleophas

Mother of St. James the less and Joseph. She was one of the "Three Marys" who served Jesus, and went with Mary Magdalen to Jesus' tomb. There are various traditions surrounding Mary, from who exactly was related to her (one legend suggests she was the mother of St. Jude) to how she spent the latter part of her life (missionary work to Spain or France). Regardless, she seems like a good choice for Palm Sunday.

Now that Wisconisn has (thankfully) taken the men's divison 1 ice hockey crown, it's time to give the (expected) offical results to the Frozen Four pool:

Hight: 27
Barker: 25
M. Coen: 24
Crowley: 22
S. Coen: 17
DeVeau: 12
Sorenson: 12
Boggie: 6
Harper-Nixon: 3

Congrats to Brian, and to all who put their best skate forward.

Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Julie Billiart

The founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Julie had a life-long interest in education. As a teen she taught workers Bible parables during their lunch hour, and she would develop her order into one dedicated to the education of young Catholic women.

In her lifetime, Julie was also involved in hiding priests during the French Revolution and aiding the wounded and dispossessed during and after the Battle of Waterloo. She did much of her work while in poor health, including a 22 year span where she was completely paralyzed.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur run Emmanuel College in Boston. They are a member of the Colleges of the Fenway (as is Wentworth), and when I worked at BU my office was in a building we were renting from Emmanuel. So it seemed fitting to go with Julie on her feast day.

Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Celsus

A layman, Celsus became bishop of Armagh in 1105. This was apparently a hereditary see; so much for celibacy. Celsus implemented many reforms in his see, and mediated with warring Irish tribes. He also ended the hereditary succession in Armagh by naming St. Malachy as his successor.

He is not the patron saint of the metric system.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Paul Tinh

Paul was a Vietnamese martyr who served as a priest before being beheaded by "anti-Catholic forces" (according to Catholic Online) in 1857. John Paul II made him a saint in 1988.

I'm curious as to what these "anti-Catholic forces" were. All I've been able to find is that they were political in nature, which isn't helpful.

We finally got back to bar trivia on Tuesday, managing to pull out second place on the second tie-breaker. We had the closest guess to the number of head coaches the Boston Bruins have had in their 77 year history (we answered 16 to the other team's 15; the correct answer is 25).

We lost the game by one point, frustrating as we talked ourselves out of two correct answers (though they were pretty much guesses anyway). Your questions:

Name either of the words in the English language that use all five vowels in alphabetical order. - facetious (Scott) - we got the other one, abstemious, meaning marked by restraint, especially in the consumption of food or alcohol. Which is kind of what I thought it meant, but I more or less knew it as one of those trivial things rather than from using the word.

In what city did the first 24 hour convenience store open its doors in 1963? - Las Vegas (Scott) - we were debating between NYC, Vegas, and LA. I argued for NYC based on people being more likely to walk to a store at odd hours. This made sense compared to LA - who walks? - but we underestimated the needs of folks wandering down the Strip at 3 am. For those who care, the store was a 7-11.

In what country would you find the Southern Alps? (Hint: it's not in Europe.) - New Zealand (Salome) - early discussion took the southern part literally, and we considered various mountain regions in Africa. This didn't seem right, so we turned our attention to South America. We then tossed in New Zealand, but thought it wouldn't come up again after a question on the mountains of New Zealand came up a few weeks ago. It did. We went with Argentina, based on the Andes being pretty big and Argentina having a fair number of former Europeans.

What team beat the Chargers to win the first AFL title in 1961? Houston Oilers (Sly) - For some reason the Dallas Texans popped into my head (we were given a clue that the team was still in the NFL, but under a different name). They actually beat the Oilers for the 1962 title. It didn't help that I was also thinking of the original Dallas Texans, who were so awful in their 1952 debut (1-11) that they folded - but became the new Baltimore Colts. Which worked out for the people of Charm City, at least. Can't remember if Hyph or me came up with Houston, but Hyph got me to go with it, thankfully.

In what movie did Dustin Hoffman play a character named Bernie Laplante? Hero (Chris) - we were pretty stuck on this, and went with I (Heart) Huckabees based (I think) primarily on the song clue ("Heart and Soul" by Huey Lewis and the News). Looks like the song was in homage to an earlier question on Huey Lewis (had to name him based on his real name). Hero never entered into the discussion, and thus Chris can keep his shame all to himself.

What name is shared by a Klimt painting and a Rodin sculpture? The Kiss (Anthony) - Both of the wives knew this right off. I only heard them say "The" over the music, and wrote "Thinker" as a matter of habit. Thankfully, with the final question I tend to show it to make sure it's correct. This was the final question, and we bet the max. So did the team that beat us and the team that was tied with us.

What is the fewest number of states you can travel through to get from the east coast to the west coast of the US? Seven (Cooch) - we just worked out this route when the call went up for answers, and we hadn't really counted. But we did have enough basic math that I was able to put down 7 in haste. This was our tie-breaker question, which the other team also got, which led us to the question on the Bruins coaches.

Had an interesting day at work - we inaugurated our fourth president, which is something given that we've been around for 102 years (in its earliest days Wentworth was more or less a trade school that had a principal). Pretty good crowd of dignitaries, including Mayor Menino, state senate president Robert Travaligni, and the lieutenant governor. Natalie Jacobsen was emcee, fitting as all of her grandparents came to the US from Serbia, as did our president.

Earlier in the day at a breakfast we heard that an alum was donating $1 million, and he spoke briefly about how he used everything he learned at Wentworth in building his businesses. He was very genuine in his love for the school and the role it played in his success, which was nice to hear. Given that he is a 1937 graduate, it was also nice to actually have him there in person.

The only interesting personal note is that the recessional music for the ceremony was the same recessional music the wife and I used for our wedding. They followed that up with something sound like the Liberty Bell March, which would have been pretty funny given how most people are familiar with it.

And as we celebrated a president of a school that educates builders and other tradespeople, we might as well keep the theme going.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Vincent Ferrer

A scholar and preacher, Vincent Ferrer spent most of his life trying to bring new people into the fold. He refused a variety of offices while asking to be given a missionary role, and once he got it he didn't let the dust settle. He preached from Ireland to Germany and pretty much everywhere in between, including Grenada - while it was still in the Islamic camp. He also worked hard to end the schism that saw the pope move to Avignon and the occasional seating of two popes (or pope and anti-pope, I suppose). It ended shortly before his death in 1419.

The connection to the above is that Ferrer is the patron saint of builders and other tradespeople given what he did to "build" the church.

Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Benedict the Moor

Not actually a Moor (he got the name from the Italian il moro, the black), Benedict was born a slave near Messina, Italy. Once freed he became a solitary, eventually becoming the superior of the community of hermits he lived with (this seems kind of contradictory, a community of solitaries). Pope Pius IV disbanded such communities, and Benedict became a Franciscan lay brother.

He started out as a cook at a friary, eventually becoming superior and novice master even though he couldn't read or write. He would later re-assume the cook position, which he apparently preferred. Benedict was renowned for his holiness, miracles, and as a confessor, and was widely sought out by strangers.

Benedict is the patron saint of African-Americans, African missions, and Palermo (where the friary he cooked at and led was located).

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Richard of Chichester

A 13th century lawyer who studied at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, he was named chancellor of Oxford in 1235 and chancellor to the archbishop of Canterbury Edmund Rich. Ordained while in France with Rich, he served Rich's successor, St. Boniface of Savoy, until Boniface made him bishop of Chichester. Only problem there was that King Henry III had already named someone to the post, a move Boniface invalidated.

Pope Innocent IV confirmed Richard's nomination, but Henry interfered with his taking office until the pope threatened to excommunicate Henry (it must be something about King Henrys). Richard served in the post until his death in 1262, after which his shrine was a noted location for miracles - until the Reformation. Take that as a sign, though of what I've no idea.

Book Log 2006 #14: 1776 by David McCullough

America's favorite historian (at least based on the power of John Adams) takes on the most critical year in colonial American history in 1776, which passes on covering the year in wide context, but rather focuses on three battles that shaped the revolution to come - the siege of Boston, the Battle of Brooklyn, and the Battle of Trenton.

The focus of the book is almost solely mililtary, with just enough politics and social history to bridge the gaps. From what I could tell the intention was to show how these battles shaped the colonial army and its leader, George Washington. There's a little light cast on some of the second-tier players, but the focus is on Washington's development as commander in chief.

All that being said, I liked the book for what it was. It's been quite a while since my last US history class, so there's not much I can give by way of critique on how the history is presented. Folks who can speak more to the veracity of the text are more than welcome to comment.

I'm following the Sox-Rangers game on-line (missing the first "WAY BACK! WAY BACK!" of the season), using the MLB.com game tracker. I think I like the ESPN.com one better, but the MLB one has a place where they show pitch location and result during an at bat, which I like.

What's funny about it is that the rectangle for the strike zone is drawn right from the book, armpit to knee. That makes it look like every high pitch is coming in at about chin level. That might make the game more interesting, but I don't think it's reflecting reality that well.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Mary of Egypt

A hermitess discovered in the Jordanian desert by St. Cyryacus and his companions, she said that she had been an actress and singer who was doing penance for her sins. The next time Cyryacus came through, she was dead.

And there it would have stood, except that in the Middle Ages someone appended a legend to Mary's story, relating a history where she was an actress and courtesan in Alexandria who realized her sins while looking at an icon of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin directed Mary to the desert, where she lived for 47 years without seeing a single person. She still managed to face several temptations with the help of her namesake. Mary would be discovered by a man named Zosimus, who would later find her dead.

A lesson on the importance of a well-written back-story. TV and movie writers take heed.

Saw V for Vendetta yesterday, and it was satisfactory. I expected more explosive stunts given that its from the Wachowskis, and instead got more slo-mo fountains of blood than I really cared for. The most exciting part of the movie was when Steven Fry's character said there was nothing to worry about from the fascist government - and then the power in the theater went out. Given the timing, I thought for a second that it was the government cutting the power to the character's house. After a few minutes we were able to re-start the movie and finish without incident.

Got 5 previews, none of which were particularly compelling:

Posideon is the big-screen remake of The Posideon Adventure, following on last year's made for TV remake. The only interesting thing of note is that Andre Braugher is in it. I may just have to see it in spite of myself.

X Men III would be of interest if I'd seen the first two. Nice makeup job on Kelsey Grammer, though.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is also something that might be of interest if I'd seen the first movie.

Silent Hill, where a girl dreams of some West Virginia town that's been having an underground fire for years. The girl disappears, and the mom has to search the town to find her. Not surprisingly, unspeakable evil may be to blame for the fire.

Take the Lead, a combination of Dangerous Minds and Swing Kids, as Antonio Banderas teaches neglected inner-city high schoolers ballroom dancing with a side of dignity (but not in defiance of the Nazis). One of the co-stars is Yaya from season 3 of America's Next Top Model, for the three of you who may care.

Lentorama 2006 Saint of the Day: St. Macarius the Wonder-Worker

An abbot banished twice by Inconclast emperors of Constantinople, he earned the name "Wonder-Worker" for his penchant for miracles. I don't have much else to say, but how could I pass up someone with this name?