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.

So we're heading towards the final hour of Halloween here, and all I have to say is whoop de frickin' doo.

While the idea of free candy and very low-scale hooliganism appealed for some time, I've never really cottoned to the idea of Halloween as an adult holiday. This gets some testing living as close as I do to Salem, but the worst I got this year was being stuck in Salem traffic over the weekend (compounded by the snow we got, which is a whole 'nother topic).

It also got some testing today as we were allowed to wear costumes to work. I did not. I've never been really happy with how I turn out when it comes to costumes (the end result usually doesn't match my expectations), and I can't say I was motivated to come up with something. So I dressed as normal and said I was a guy from Salem rather than from Beverly. Such is what passes for wit from me these days.

I suppose I don't begrudge anyone their fun on Halloween, as long as I can opt out and spend the time as I see fit, only punctuated by the very occasional trick-or-treater. Now that's a neat trick that's a treat for me.

So the Red Sox break their World Series drought last year, and the White Sox follow suit this year. So who's next?

The Obvious Choice - Chicago Cubs Be it billy goats, Bartman, or the indifference of the Tribune Company, the Cubs still reign supreme in the cavalcade of baseball's loveable losers. It's just that their kingdom is just so small now, what with the lack of Sox. There are other subjects, some of whom I'll mention later, but the A-list is now just the residents of the Friendly Confines.

As much as people worried that the Red Sox win would change their character (it hasn't; we're still fatalistic about our team, and seem willing to throw over one of its architects for putting together a team that only won 95 games and made the playoffs - you'd think the Sox were in the Big XII), the Cubs may have an even bigger stake in their reputation for being also-rans.

But if we're working backwards to get teams off historical slides, you could only do better by bringing back the Providence Grays.

The Semi-Obvious Choice - Cleveland Indians Never mind their 1990s successes - that led to exactly zero titles - and consider their previous history of futility. It's a little sullied by their actually winning Series in the past (even if it isn't exactly recent past) and not having to play in Municipal Stadium any more, but when you get to be so bad that a movie like Major League can play on it, you've reached a very interesting place.

The Bridesmaid's Choice - Atlanta Braves OK, they won the Series in 1995, but have lost four others during their lengthy streak of NL divison titles. Take out '95 and you have to go back to 1957 to find a Series win - when the team was in Milwaukee.

Rip Van Winkle's Choice - Philadelphia Phillies For a while, at least, Van Winkle could have gotten in two naps between Phils' appearances in the Series. You had 1915, then 1950, and then 1980. There's been less time to sleep since then, with appearances in 1983 and 1993, but you never know when they're going to slip back into a pattern that will send them back to the Series in 2042.

The New Futile Kings of the Rustbelt Choice - Detroit Tigers All the stuff that applied to Cleveland in the 1980s when the Tigers were good can apply here now. They do have a pretty good history, so they may be less wanting than others, but it's hard to get past the blunt force trauma that is the last 10-15 years of Tigers baseball.

Le choix de l'immigré - Washington Nationals Consider that the two previous teams named the Washington Nationals never finished higher than 7th - often in 8 team leagues. Then you have the two Washington Senators - the first was about as bad as the early Nationals teams, the other moved to Texas and still has never been to the World Series.

And, oh yes, this current Nats team used to be the Montreal Expos - no World Series appearances, a laughable stadium, and a lingering death of a final decade in Montreal, fittingly capped in their time as wards of the league.

So with this combined record of baseball futility, wouldn't a World Series be a welcome, if almost freakishly unprecedented, change? And it would twist the knife further into Peter Angelos, whose crankiness and inability to buy a competitive team makes him very hard to tolerate.

Of course, we'll probably get the Yankees in '06. Ugh.

The bad news is that we had to pay our full tab last night. The good news is that we paid because there was no bar cash as part of our winning the Tournament of Champions. All hail!

We did take home Bruins tickets for a game to be determined (Sam Adams, who sponsors the game, is sending us the tickets). We also gave the sponsor some product development feedback, as they tested two beers on us last night. One was a Bohemia-style lager, the other a brown ale. The former was OK, the latter was pretty good but tasted more like a porter than, say, Newcastle.

Still, free beer is free beer.

Anyway, your questions:

What actor was on the University of Miami's 1991 national championship team and played in the CFL with Doug Flutie? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Paul) - it seemed to make sense from what little we knew about The Rock and the timing of his football career. Unlike the last couple of weeks, this wasn't necessarily part of a rock theme, though pairing The Rock and Rock Hudson is something.

What is the more common name for the condition known as epistaxis? Nosebleed (Chris) - We tried to break the word down into its components, and while "epi-" was well-known, "-staxis" was not. From looking it up, it's Latin by way of the Greek for "to drip." We took a more sound-alike approach and guessed cataracts. Like Thomas Dolby, we (and our answer, somewhat literally) were blinded with science.

Mount Elbert is the highest peak in what western US state? Colorado (D'oh! via email) - we had no idea, and the Nirvana song that was playing was a bit of a red herring. We guessed Idaho based on instinct. I don't know if we ever really thought about Colorado. Oh well.

What four elements are named for countries? Francium, Polonium, Germanium, Americium (Myron) - As noted before, it was English element names, and to be fair Americium is named more for the continental landmass than the USA. But it was what they were looking for, so no arguments. We actually got all parts of both multiple answer questions (the first was name the act from their first album).

What was the name of the limo driver in Die Hard (hint: he shares his name with a clothing pattern)? Argyle (Greg) - a perhaps little-known fact: De'voreaux White, the actor who played Argyle, was also the kid that Ray Charles shoots at in The Blues Brothers. We got this, and enjoyed the playing of "Chrismas in Hollis," which Argyle was favoring in the movie.

What was the first major league baseball team to win a second World Series? Chicago Cubs (Greg) - Our love of irony was as deep as Greg's, as we got this one, too. There was some talk about the Sox, fueled in part by not knowing who won the 1905 Series (I believed it was the NY Giants... and was right, go figure). Of course, I also thought the Cubs won the '06 Series, when it was in fact the ChiSox. So I got a little lucky. Moreso than the Cubs, at least.

What actor's final screen appearance before his death in 1985 was as Daniel Reece on the TV show Dynasty? Rock Hudson (Chris) - we were a little stymied by this, though I put it together with the help of the opening strains of a Queen song. Knowing what we know about Freddie Mercury, and knowing that the timing was right for Hudson, we went with it and were correct. Woo!

I spent almost an hour today trying to get set up for a FedEx.com account. It was not successful. Let's just say that when you get an email saying you have five days to reply, and even though you reply within seconds of getting the email you are told your account has expired, you're asking to get replaced. Apparently this has been a problem for a couple of months, but the folks in Memphis are taking their sweet time in fixing it.

Though if this is my biggest complaint, things have to be going pretty well.

Recently back from a weekend in Chicago (well, mostly Evanston) full of trashy goodness. Thanks to the McSorensons for hosting and the Foghat folks for their work. Though I never want to hear about Matthew Sweet or Northwestern-themed items again.

My flights worked out such that I was able to moderate for the last 3 rounds of the mirror they had at BU. Kind of my own Phil Collins-at-Live-Aid moment, but with a shorter plane flight and much less out of tune jamming with members of Led Zeppelin.

Not too much to talk about otherwise, I was pretty much out of touch for all of the weekend's sporting events outside of watching football over lunch on Saturday (mostly focusing on Northwestern's pounding of Michigan State) and the tail end of last night's World Series game (which I did the head-bob nodding-off thing during, so I can hardly say I watched even that part of the game we saw).

While the folks at Motorola obviously want me to pronounce the name of their ROKR phone to go along with its iTunes capability, every time I see the name I can only think of one thing:



(With thanks to the folks at Gizmodo for coming up with a picture better than anything I could have cobbled together.)

The trivia bullies got their comeuppance last night, as we missed the final question and came in second. Worst part is, we were pretty close to coming up with the right answer. Oh well, better to come in second this week than next, which is the Tournament of Champions.

Anyway, your sample of questions:

In what movie does Leslie Nielsen play the President of the United States? - Scary Movie 3 (Jack) - We had no idea, and guessed Hot Shots. Turns out he's not even in that movie. I don't think any of us had seen Scary Movie 3. Heck, I've not even seen 1 or 2. There was a definite presidential theme, as the third quarter of the game had four out of five questions related to that office.

What Gulf coast state has "You Are My Sunshine" as an official state song? Louisiana (Paul) - Given a previous question asked about Florida's state song, and knowing that it wasn't Texas, we had a one in three chance. That turned to none in two pretty quickly, as we figured Louisiana, with its musical history, could have come up with something better. We went with Alabama. Whoops.

This has been your Minimally Ironic Question of the Week.

In 1988, Bill Clinton appeared on what TV show where he played "Summertime" on the saxophone? The Tonight Show (James) - Yup, we made the Arsenio mistake. Most teams did. I'm a little irritated at myself for not catching this, as I remember the whole thing about that lousy keynote speech. Damn.

What are the end points of Boston's Freedom Trail? The Boston Common and the Charlestown Navy Yard/USS Constitution (Ted) - We got the Common, but went with the Bunker Hill Monument instead, as it's farther away from downtown Boston than the Navy Yard. Still not sure why you go past the Navy Yard only to come back to it, though I assume it's due to the stature of Old Ironsides and not the preponderance of one way streets (which shouldn't matter if you're walking the trail, though that's not the easiest part of the trail to walk, based on the one time I walked that part).

What TV show featured the first inter-racial kiss in prime time? Star Trek (Greg) - Uhura and Kirk lock lips while under some sort of alien mind control in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren." This was half of a mini-theme in the game, as we were also asked what show had the first inter-racial married couple (more extra credit - The Jeffersons (Greg) - the wife, of course, was played by Roxie Roker, who is Lenny Kravitz's mom.).

What book ends, "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." The Catcher in the Rye (Greg) - The wife knew this, which was good. None of the rest of us did. The musical clue was "Instant Karma" by John Lennon.

What country is home to the world's oldest university, founded in 1088? (Extra credit for naming the school.) Italy, University of Bologna (Ted) - We were stuck between Italy, Germany, and France. We went with France, which wasn't too bad of a guess given that the University of Paris is second-oldest. It's just 150 or so years younger than Bologna. Looking at the list of oldest continuously running universities, Germany's oldest is younger than schools in Britain, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Austria. So at least we didn't go with them.

FWIW, the University of Bologna is now known as "Alma mater studorium," or "fostering mother of studies" to reflect its status as the oldest university.

Our mis-step her dropped us from first to second, as the second place team got the question right. Better luck next week.

Let me say this now, just in case I never get the chance to do so again this season:

The BU men's ice hockey team is alone atop the Hockey East standings.

Of course, they've won the only league game played in this young season. Odd to start the season with a league game, but I suppose the addition of Vermont to Hockey East is forcing some scheduling quirks. Though it now gives me an opportunity to go back to Burlington and actually spend a night in Vermont.

Given the reliance on youth, the Terriers had some good team play going on Saturday, moreso than in the recent past. I think I also saw more nifty skating and puck-handling that in that recent past, which is a welcome return to the days of the 1990s when we were awash with gifted players.

So there's room for optimism on Comm. Ave., and the pride in knowing that most of the teams picked above us in the pre-season coaches poll lost this past weekend (Maine had to show us up, beating Denver twice).

In vaguely related news, I was a captive audience for a chunk of the ND-USC game this past Saturday, in violation of my personal probation. Not sure of the best way to put myself on probation for this violation, but I'm sure it involves game tape from the Gerry Faust era. There was one TV in my location that had Michigan - Penn State, so I tried to focus on that. Sadly, I missed the ends of both games.

I also missed the end of the Pats-Broncos game, but that was by choice. I've seen enough trips to Denver that ended in a loss, I didn't need one more. Especially when the Pats mounted a reasonably good comeback from a horrific second quarter. The secondary needs help. Badly. Even with the likely return of Tedy Bruschi, which I find both amazing and foolhardy. Look what medical clearance did for Reggie Lewis.

While it doesn't quite live up to the moose that was wandering around MetroWest when we were at Babson, there was an article on Boston.com today noting that a wild turkey that had been snarling traffic in my new hometown of Beverly had finally been captured by animal control. I'd link to the story but, really, that sums it up.

Apparently, the turkey liked to hang out in the middle of one of the larger roads in town (one that I used to drive a bit when I was subbing, but rarely go down now), causing both tie-ups and potential accidents. The most recent incident involved a school bus that nearly went off the road trying to avoid the bird. I know dead fowl isn't the most pleasant thing for school-aged kids to see, but given the choice I'd have not risked the accident and given Tom what was coming to him.

In any event, he's caged up now, and will be released back into the wild in the near future. There is no need to panic.

While the media around here is more hot and bothered about the "will he or won't he?" of Mitt Romney and his political future, there is something interesting about the Boston mayoral race.

Tom Menino, the incumbent, is seeking a fourth term. Maura Hennigan, a city councilor, is trying to unseat him. As part of the process, the two have been participating in various fora and town hall-type meetings.

What's they've not been doing is debating.

Hennigan, like any good challenger, is spoiling for a fight. Menino, like any incumbent whose nickname is "Mumbles," isn't even using the word 'debate' in casual conversation. This sets up some unusual scenarios, such as last night's event at BU where Hennigan and Menino answered questions from the crowd - but wouldn't appear on stage together or directly interact.

This seems pretty gutless on Menino's part, if perhaps not a bad strategy for someone who isn't the most polished public speaker. It'll be interesting to see if this hurts him at all, but given the general lack of interest in the race I'd think not. Still, it'd be nice if he got taken to task for being a chicken.

Working off of the various posts about the ABA (mostly from Dinan), I was curious to see if Chattanooga would be home during TrashMasters weekend. Only one think kept me from finding out.

There's no schedule.

Neither the team's website nor the ABA website has a schedule for this season. Going off of last year's schedule, the season should start in about a month.

Is it me, or are they cutting things a little close? I mean, given the status of the current ABA, I can see teams not getting game dates because a junior high dance booked the space beforehand.

Maybe they're going to run the season like America's Next Top Model, with games announced by cryptic notes left by the commissioner. "Do you have what it takes to end the reign of knights? Be ready to get on the team bus at 7 am." If they only had a meeting every week where one losing team was eliminated from the league...

I'd never been called a trivia bully before last night. But, with another win posted by the team back to calling itself No Onions, that's what the emcee deemed us. Fair enough; I'll take the name-calling if it means I have a $7 tab at the end of the night.

(Though, to be fair, I should have been at the inaugural BU women's varsity ice hockey game - a 2-2 tie with Quinnipiac - but passed given back pain that made sitting in a cold rink for 3 hours seem like a bad idea. Not that sitting in a pub for three hours is much better, but I could at least delude myself.)

It wasn't as easy as last week, as we had to come from behind to win on the final question, and even then I had to go back and clarify my answer. But a win's a win.

Anyway, for those who like to play along:

Prior to Ottawa, what four cities served as capital of Canada? Kingston (Ontario), Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City (Paul) - I didn't figure Quebec would have any given the British versus French thing, but our lack of knowledge has us go with Toronto and Montreal by default. We guessed Halifax, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Guessing St. John was less of a good idea. Had we thought about it perhaps we'd have gone with Quebec City. Kingston... no.

To what land east of Eden did Cain go to after killing Abel? Nod (Greg) - We had no idea. Guessed Babylon because we heard another team say it. We're going to hell.

Tachophobia is the fear of what? Speed (Scott) - we got this one, so I will not be haunted by the Ghost of Classics Professors Past

What are the top four wine-producing countries in the world? US, Italy, France (Greg); Spain - We got the first three, and did as Greg did in going with Australia. Not a bad idea; they're apparently fifth. I had suggested Spain, but Australia seemed just as likely. Not that I didn't lord it over my team briefly when Spain turned out right.

Who was the first actress depicted on a US postage stamp? Grace Kelly, aka Princess Grace of Monaco (Greg) - I was a little surprised that an early actress didn't get the stamp treatment previously, but I suppose there was a time when getting a stamp was reserved for those who made Serious Accomplishments. We went with the Princess, thankfully.

What rock group formed in the 1960s had a first album called England's Newest Hitmakers? The Rolling Stones (Jack) - There seemed to be some thematic elements to last night's game, including two questions involving these guys.

Louis Washkansky was involved in what scientific first in 1967? First recipient of a human heart transplant (James) - this was the final question of the night, where I had to clarify things a bit regarding the nature of the operation. It probably helped that I realized I needed to do this on my own rather than having the guys running the game ask (or, more likely, judge us wrong). As with so many epiphanies, it came when I was in the bathroom.

I've been thinking about this whole Supreme Court thing. Clearly, W feels the pressure to replace a woman with a woman (though I don't know if it was as urgent of nominating the first female lawyer that came to mind). He's also feeling pressure to put a Latino on the Court, given the growing demographic power of that ethnic group.

Putting this all together, if he needs a Latina (with helpful bench experience), there's really only one candidate.

Hail and welcome to the newest blogger added at left, Laura De Veau. She should do much better than her husband, whose New Year's resolution to blog more ran out of steam before 2005 was a week old.

Not much to report from a rainy Columbus Day off - spent most of the time doing errands and watching TV. My trip to the mall led me to discover that Zales has made October "Diamond Right Hand Ring Month" or some crap like that.

I have an idea what finger I'd put that ring on, but right now it's extended in Zales' general direction.

I should be more, I don't know, upset, sad, dismayed, something about the Red Sox getting swept out of the playoffs. But when I think about it, 95 wins seems like the absolute maximum for this year's edition of the team.

You should go to Cooch's page and read his story about the end of the season (too lazy to put up the link, but it's on the Bruce's page, too). I really don't have to add anything else, other than to say I should start preparing now for all the new names.

I suppose I now have the "we got beat by the best" impetus to root for the White Sox, and I'm marginally interested in having back to back seasons where long-cursed teams finally win the big one. I could also support a Houston win, but they're a bit too trendy for my taste.

Unrelated to anything baseball, had a pretty entertaining day today. Started out by going to the Topsfield Fair, which bills itself as the country's oldest agricultural fair. We did see the New England's largest pumpkin, and some summer squash arranged and painted to look like KISS (had I only brought the camera), but we really went to see the dogs. There was an agility session, followed by a border collie demo, followed by the state police K9 unit (note that, to the best of my knowlede, no dogs participated in more than one session).

The agility was interesting, clearly not what you see during the Great Outdoor Games and such. Many of the dogs were beginners, and showed it. They'd clear the first obstacle, kind of half-complete the second, stop, scratch, sniff some interesting patch of ground, do another obstacle in reverse, etc. Still fun to watch, and we got to see several types of dogs try agility, not just the Jack Russells and border collie/ Aussie sheepdog types. This ran on both sides of the spectrum, as there were some bigger dogs (labs, retrievers, even a Tervuren that was the size of a small horse) and smaller ones (corgis and a Scottie dog).

We did see some other displays, got to pet a goat, and ate the usual fair fare. The rain cut things a little short (we never did see the K9 unit), but it was a good time.

Tonight we did something a little less bucolic and went back in to Agganis Arena (after being their last night for the hockey team's 4-0 exhibition win over the University of Toronto) to see the David Gray show. If you're a fan, I would recommend getting tickets. He puts on a solid show, nice mix of new stuff and old, and gives you your money's worth. Doesn't chat much with the audience, which was interesting but not particularly problematic.

I don't have Craig's gift (or note-taking materials) for putting together a set list, but I can give you the first five songs:

1. "Nos Da Cariad" (Life in Slow Motion)
2. "Please Forgive Me" (White Ladder)
3. "The One I Love" (Life in Slow Motion - if you've heard a new song by him on the radio lately, it was probably this one.)
4. "Lately" (Life In Slow Motion)
5. "Slow Motion" (do you need me to tell you?)

I can't place the sixth song, but he did follow it up with "Sail Away" and "This Year's Love" (both White Ladder). Then followed mostly stuff from the new album. He did a 4 or 5 song encore, ending with "Babylon." Sadly for the wife (and for me, as I also like it), he did not do "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye," perhaps not surprising as it's 9 minutes long and thus hard to work into the set. I'd have liked him to play a longer set and end with an encore of this and "Babylon," but what do I know?

I know I'm missing about a million details, but it strikes me that there's a connection to be made between our agricultural policy that pays farmers to grow marginal crops or nothing at all, the economic/security/whatever benefits to using less oil, and the growing market and acceptance of biodiesel as a motor vehicle fuel.

It's probably too much to ask that someone seeking office to connect the dots that I haven't and make a cogent policy out of this, but I know I'd be more inclined to vote for someone who does.

(Of course, I left out the whole part where the auto companies would have to get on board. If they don't make the vehicles, there's not much point to making the fuel. Feel free to suggest the appropriate subsidy, tax credit, or blackmail that would make that happen. Or to say that I'm out of my tree.)

A Conspiracy of Dunces

Game 1: Matt Clement gets shelled, leading to a 14-2 White Sox victory. Clement spent several seasons toiling for the Cubs, so he's well aware of the lack of playoff success for Chicago baseball teams. And while he can't help the Cubs as they didn't make the playoffs, he can bring some joy to his former city in another way...

Game 2: Tony Graffanino, a solid player for the Red Sox since being rescued from Kansas City, lets a routine grounder get through the wickets. This will eventually allow Chicago to put five runs on the board, enough to best Boston's four. Graffanino spent four seasons playing for... the Chicago White Sox.

Game 3: Keep your eye on reliever Mike Meyers, who was born in... Arlington Heights, Illinois. North of Chicago.

Yeah, well, Matt Clement. Huh.

Bar trivia started late last night because of the game (which, after about the sixth inning, seemed a little pointless), but the members of Stupid Sexy Zinc persevered and put a White Sox-like hammering down upon the rest of the field. Going into the final question, we had 101 points while the second place team hadn't even broached 80. Given that you can bid up to 20 points (in even increments) on the final question and only lose half if you're wrong, we could have put anything down and still won.

But, of course, we got that question right, too. In fact, we only missed two questions all night, which are among these:

From what sport do we get the idea of winning "hands down?" Horse racing (Boggie) - as noted in the comments, it comes from the jockey's ability to finish without lifting his hands to work the reins. Which makes a lot more sense than any suggestions we had about the connection, which were few and mostly related to horses being measured in hands.

We wound up going with wrestling, based on the ref's hitting of the mat during a count. Made sense at the time, moreso than anything else we came up with.

At the start of Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins is celebrating what birthday? Eleventy-first, or 111th (Greg) - We put down both a number and a word, which was actually not quite right but we got credit for putting 111. It was a good time to have our resident Tolkein expert around.

The meerkat is a close relative of what other animal whose name starts with the same letter? Mongoose - Pure guess, but a decent one based on the similarities that come to mind when you compare Riki Tiki Tavi and Timon (or is it the other one?).

What controversial 20th century author was married to a relative of the Red Baron? D. H. Lawrence - He came to mind in the most fleeting of moments, and went through again because I didn't realize he was 20th century. I think at least one other person on the team had the same thing happen. We went with William Golding, thinking that The Lord of the Flies may have dredged up some controversey, what with all the rampaging. I also thought that the song, "Superfly," may have been a clue.

It still might have been, depending on what Lady Chatterly's lover was using.

What US state is the flattest (in this case meaning having the smallest difference between its highest and lowest elevations)? Florida (Shawn) - We started out with the plains states, thinking about Kansas and that study that proved the Sunflower State is actually flatter than a pancake. Then the guy running the game noted that the answer was based on smallest difference in highest and lowest elevations, and we thought some more.

I remembered something from John McPhee's book Oranges about how the higest elevation in Florida is only something like 400 feet (close - it's apparently 345 feet). We talked about a few other states, but eventually stuck with Florida - not that it mattered, this being the last question of the game. Bow before our trivial prowess!

Let's see... two years ago right now I was standing on an altar, exchanging vows and having a priest make fun of a large, gold object that I now wear regularly. I can't say I remember many of the details, but I thank those of you who were there (as well as many who were not) for your support, prayers, and best wishes.

To celebrate, the missus and I will make our regular bar trivia game and watch the Carmine Hose hopefully down the Pale Hose. Those that know us should not be surprised.

The Good: The Sox made the playoffs, the first time they've done so three years in a row (with thanks to Cooch, as the first time noted that they'd never done this was the first time I'd been made aware of it). They even did so by taking 2 of 3 from the Yankees, and not relying on the Indians inability to get the job done at home.

Which, by extension, is problematic as it gives the White Sox some momentum going into their playoff series with the Red Sox. This is less problematic than not actually making the playoffs at all, of course.

The Bad: The alma mater lost what is at least their 15th straight football game on Friday. I've not looked at their 2003 schedule, but I'm pretty sure the streak starts with a loss to Martha's Vineyard in that year's Divison VI Super Bowl.

Tough times for Manchester-Essex, certainly the toughest in my memory. Hopefully they'll get things righted soon.

The Ugly was today's Patriots game, which I theoretically had tickets to but passed on to go visit the in-laws in Maine (as the tickets were to be had through the wife's work, they were very much only in theory). So, if I had to find a silver lining here, it's that I was saved the hassle of traffic and seeing an even worse loss than my lone Patriots outing.

We were listening to the Sox game in the car coming home during the worst of this - I'd seen the first half, which ended 17-17. I've not gotten any information on how the wheels came off the cart, but the score indicates another problematic day on defense.

Maine, on the other hand, would also qualify in the good category. Played another round of golf, this time at the Hampden Country Club, which unlike many country clubs has a public course and is only 9 holes. But it will always have a special place in my golfing memory for one reason.

I shot an honest to God par on the second hole.

If I were Cooch I'd have what happened down in precise detail. Instead, I can tell you I hit an iron off the tee, clipped the top of a tree but landed about 10 yards from the green. Used some sort of pitchy-putter looking club to get on the green, and rolled in an 8 footer for a par 3.

Note that the next time through I shot an 8.

For most of the day I had no consistent feel for any of my clubs. I'd have a good shot here and there, but it wasn't like Hilton Head where I was driving consistently. It also didn't help that, at one point, I was hitting at the wrong green (the 7th and 9th greens are very close).

But it was still fun, and a day golfing where it wasn't sub-tropical, which is always nice. The rest of the weekend was quiet, no complaints. Except for that work thing tomorrow, but I suppose that can't be helped.

A couple of months ago I went on new insurance. For the first time ever, I was asked to get prior authorization from a doctor to get a prescription. It was a hassle, especially for something I've been on for a while, but I worked through the morass and got it done.

Fast forward to earlier this week. I've changed insurance again, and wouldn't you know it, the folks at Blue Cross Blue Shield want another prior authorization. Remember this is for:

* The same medication
* At the same dosage
* And the same instructions
* From the same doctor
* On the same prescription
* At the same pharmacy
* For the same condition
* (Which is chronic, by the way)

When the revolution comes, you can bet that BCBS will be among the first against the wall.

Playing as The D.J. Schepker Experience, we managed to bag our second win at bar trivia last night (we named ourselves after a friend who plays on another team, who finished third last night but are also in the Tournament of Champions). Nice to have a $20 tab for four people.

We only missed two questions, so I've thrown in three of the more challenging ones to round things out:

Who won an Oscar for her 1990 portrayal of Annie Wilkes? Kathy Bates (Greg) - for some reason I focused on the first name and came up with Susan Sarandon, who of course played Annie Savoy in Bull Durham, not the psychotic fan in Misery. This was actually part of a bonus where we got the other three actors for their Oscar-winning roles (Randle McMurphy, Ben Sanderson, and Leticia Musgrove for those who want to play along in the comments).

Who was the first female hip-hop artist to earn a gold record? MC Lyte - apparently it was that song about rocking your body and/or the party.

Name the five US states that border only two other states. Delaware, Florida, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington (OTC) - The question was originally the four US states, as they'd forgotten about Washington. Thankfully, they remembered, as we included the Evergreen State over South Carolina. You'd think having been there recently I'd have gotten it; my argument is that we were on the coast and not up in the part that we thought might touch Tennessee.

The lead-in to the question noted the only US state to only border one other state. I'll put that out there for extra credit. Maine (Scott) - Bordering only New Hampshire, of course. Sorry to say that the wife wasn't there for the home state shout-out.

Calamine is an ore of what element? Zinc (Scott) - we had no idea on this one, though we tried to concentrate on what might be "soothing" elements. Which is a category they never really cover in high school chemistry. One of our team had the idea that because calamine lotion is pink, and Pepto Bismol is pink, the likely candidate was bismuth. His logic trumped our wild-ass guessing, even if it didn't lead to the correct answer. As it was, we never even wild-ass guessed zinc.

I won't even try to explain Allyson's comment regarding zinc, as you had to be there. Though I'm sure fans of The Simpsons will understand the reference, as far as that goes.

Who became the youngest winner of the Australian Open women's singles title when she won at age 19 in 1991? Monica Seles (Greg) - OK, this wasn't particularly more challenging - the person who came up with her did so pretty quickly - but there was a lot of geography and I wanted to mix things up. It did confirm that my base of tennis knowledge has eroded badly.

Sign that your fantasy football team is going to lose: in between rushing for three TDs, an oppenent's running back finds the time to throw for a TD.

After a triumphant start, the Chapman St. Ghettoz are 1-2. Fantastic.

I have similarly sanguine feelings about today's doubleheader between the Sox and the Jays. While it has the propensity of being a momentum-giver, losing both could suck all the air right out of the city. I know, a happy thought for a Tuesday morning.

Thought this was an interesting statement, made by a current Harvard undergraduate regarding content on The Facebook:

"You can't be responsible for what you're saying at all times in your life."

If this isn't a future President of the United States speaking, I'll eat my hat.

(For those of you unclear on The Facebook: back in the day, most schools put out a facebook, where they printed a picture of yourself that you sent them and listed where you were from and your interests, usually deep things like "people" and "travel." The Facebook is a website which more or less does the same thing on a nation-wide basis, giving students the ability to post a variety of information, which sometimes gets the student in trouble.)

I will say that I agree with this student to the extent that, as what's posted there can be ephemeral, it may not truly represent who the student is. However, I do not agree that I shouldn't hold someone responsible for what they put in print. If you bother to put something on-line in your name, it's yours, even if you were joking. Problem is that, in cyberspace, no one can hear you be sarcastic.

The student was also concerned about university officials using the site for informational purposes, which I'd counter with the idea that if you don't want to get pinched for doing something, it's probably in your best interest not to post pictures or a blow-by-blow account where anyone who knows about the site or Google or something can get at it.

I recently finished Brave New World, a book that I'd picked up once or twice in high school but never read. I can safely say that I didn't miss much. The world A.F. seemed much too much like a caricature, and I don't think the ending could have been more heavy-handed.

And while it doesn't strike me as a book commonly assigned in high school, it did make me wonder what books that are commonly read in high school that I missed. For example, two books that everyone in my high school seemed to read other than the classes I was in were The Red Pony and The Yearling. I'm told by the wife I didn't miss anything with the former, the merest thought of which sends her into paroxysms of disgust.

In any event, I'm giving you all the chance to shape my reading list.

Simply comment with the name of the best book you were assigned to read in high school. By "book" I include books, plays, and poetry (collections, epic, and otherwise), and by "assigned" I mean either what you think it means or a book you chose but got credit for reading (my sophomore year we got to choose books, but had to run them by our teacher first).

To help narrow things down, these were among the works I read in high school:

The Odyssey, The Iliad, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Babbitt, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Crime and Punishment, A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Man and the Sea, The Chosen, The Sound and the Fury, Treasure Island, The Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye, The Sun Also Rises, Dandelion Wine.

Since then, I've read The Great Gatsby, some other Sinclair Lewis stuff, and a whole raftload of Greek drama and other classical bits.

So, based on that, recommend away!

If you thought you heard a lot of screaming, or felt a disturbance in the Force last night at, oh, sometime between 10 and 10:30 pm EDT, you can probably trace it back to the Red Sox losing 7-4 to the Devil Rays, a result that sent the Sox from leading the AL East to out of the playoffs (if the season ended yesterday).

I thankfully avoid most sports media (Cooch notwithstanding), so the Red Sox Nation suicide watch that must surely be going on does so without me. Given how the team has played this season, what disappointment I'd feel if they didn't make the playoffs is tempered by the season-long display of inconsistency. It's not like you couldn't see this coming.

Besides, it's all working out as MLB planned, what with the three game series against the Yankees to end things. It could turn out that we'll win the AL East after all and somehow banish the Yankees from the playoffs.

Not that I'm expecting it. But it could happen.

The Patriots, on the other hand, are a cause for concern. They did not look good last week, and have to play Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Atlanta over the next few weeks. Most of these games take place on the road, to make matters worse. It would not be surprising if this team is sporting a 2-4 record at some point. It would also not be surprising if they then finished the season 12-4 or 11-5 and get into the playoffs.

The current offensive coordinator by committee will take its fair share of heat should the losing come to pass, but given how the defense let Jake Delhomme connect on a number of what can only be called eephus passes, you have to look over there as well. Mostly at the defensive backs, who are awful young. Super Bowl or no, they're still learning, and while you'd expect them to make more mistakes in big games, the idea that they'd play back to the mean over a number of games makes sense.

Only a month or so before I can start kvetching about the Bruins and Terriers. Things go right for the Sox, I can complain about all four in one post. That should drive off even the most persistent reader.

A return to bar trivia tonight, as Everybody Loves a Cane made a slight improvement on the last time out with a second place finish. As with last time, here's a sampling of the questions we didn't do so well with:

In the summer of 1941, what country became the first to use frogmen to fight an opponent? Italy (OTC) - Italian frogmen apparently took on the British, who were our guess after we summarily dismissed the French as a little on the nose. This was the first question of the night, which made for an inauspicious start.

What nationality has produced the greatest number of Nobel Prize winners? - USA - One of us said Britain, one said Germany, and I said the USA. So we played 3 Answer Monte by writing an answer each on an answer slip and had the fourth person pick. Unlike the popular hustle, where you win the first time to get sucked in, we did not find the lady, so to speak.

Rome and what four other European capital cities are spelled with just four letters? Riga [Latvia], Bern [Switzerland], Oslo [Norway], Kiev [Ukraine] (OTC) - we got the first three, as I had a brain fart and thought Minsk was the capital of Ukraine (it actually being the capital of Belarus). I threw out a guess of Baku, which is the capital of Azerbaijan. For what it's worth, they are in the European qualifying group for the World Cup. Had I only been able to make that argument last night.

What city in the Po River valley is known as Italy's food capital? Bologna (Ted) - we went with Parma, given the ham and the cheese (it's also the home to Parmalat, they of the frightening shelf-stable milk). Not sure if it's really in the Po valley, though. It's in the neighborhood, but none of the maps I've seen make it clear to me if it's in the valley or up in the hills.

Not sure if Bologna deserves this given what its self-named luncheon meat has become, but I suppose it's not their fault.

What US state has had its capital move the most - 12 times? Texas (Greg) - we were leading going into this question, which was the good news. The bad news is that we had no clue about this question. We did mention Texas, but then again we named about 20 of the states. We settled on New York and Georgia, flipped a coin, and guessed New York. We bet the minimum, thus only losing one point, but were passed by a team that got the question right and finished in second place.

As for the capital moving, Texas apparently had several temporary capitals when it became indepdendent. Which makes me wonder about the construction of the question, as I can't remember it verbatim. Not sure if they worded it such that it would allow for moves when Texas wasn't a US state.

We're recently returned from Hilton Head (well, we got in very early this morning, but you get my idea), and for you, a recap.

Saturday we drove to Hilton Head, which isn't as bad as it sounds given that there were seven available drivers between two cars. We spent the early part of the trip getting info about Hurricane Ophelia (which was then looking like it was going to hit somewhere in South Carolina), shifting later to baseball (the dreaded Y@nkees, given where we were going through).

We tried to stop for the night in Petersberg, Virginia, which proved problematic as NASCAR was up in Richmond. Rather than pay $159 for a Residence Inn or $90 for the shabbiest looking Days Inn I've ever seen, we continued down to Emporia, Virginia, where we found somewhere whose price to shadiness ratio was better.

Sunday we completed our drive, though not without getting lost a bit thanks to a missing street sign. We stayed at a timeshare that's part of the Port Royal Plantation, one of several former plantations that now serves as a resort, most often for golf. The timeshare is crammed into a lot on the plantation property, and is probably the least inspiring place we've stayed on one of these family vacations.

We noticed early on that navigating Hilton Head would be difficult, given that all the signs for businesses are at street level, of moderate size, and mutely colored. If you're into forest green, shades of brown, and gray, Hilton Head is the place for you. Also, most places are off the street, so you more often than not see where you need to go when you are right on top of it. Thankfully, the main roadway gives you ample opportunities for turning around.

Didn't do much upon arrival, just settled in.

Monday continued the settling, at least for me, as most of the group went shopping or played golf. I considered the latter, though it was for the best that I begged off - turns out the course had water on pretty much every hole, and I'd likely have lost a good dozen balls if I'd gone out.

Had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, which I chose for the novelty if nothing else. Food was pretty good if a little pricey (another theme of Hilton Head), and sadly we were too early for the live music.

Tuesday was our day trip to Savannah, a city of considerable beauty and charm... located downwind from a paper mill.

We took a trolley tour around the city, which wasn't particularly edifying. It's really a city that calls for a good walking tour, especially if you have an interest in architecture or like to tour houses. The most instructive thing we did was go through the Savannah museum at the tourist info center and see their short movie, which suggested that James Oglethorpe learned the value of diversity - just well after his actual death.

Returning to Hilton Head, we went miniature golfing for some reason.

Wednesday started with a kayak tour in what the locals call a creek that is actually an inlet. We got to see dolphins (which I missed, lagging behind), oyster beds, heron, and various other fauna. It was a good way to spend part of the morning, and I never even felt like I was going to flip (the kayaks being smartly weighted to make capsizing nearly impossible).

In the afternoon I finally got out on the golf course, which I was going to recap Couture-style but can't get the table to display here properly. Suffice it to say that I was many, many shots over par. Even so, I did manage three legitimate par opportunities, none of which I converted (worst being a par 3 that turned into a 6). I can drive pretty well, have no feel for my irons or wedges, and apparently need obstacles to putt with any accuracy.

Thursday saw a lazy morning lead to a trip to Harbor Town and the Hilton Head lighthouse. Harbor Town is located in the Sea Pines Plantation, which costs $5 a car to drive into (a fact not noted in either of our guide books, underscoring the uselessness of both publications).

The lighthouse was underwhelming; rather than being built for the usual lighthouse purpose, it was constructed in 1969 to attract pleasure craft into the harbor and its shops. Those shops are priced for people who can afford to spend time cruising in pleasure craft, looking for marketing-constructed lighthouses to entice them.

This was easily the worst tourist-related outing we had all week.

Friday was even lazier than Thursday, as the heat continued to climb (into the high 90s). I passed on both shopping and the driving range, and didn't do much of anything except hit the library to check my email and such (not a bad library, but a little under-air conditioned for my taste). We had a dinner of trademark-dodging at the Pasta Garden and the Marble Slab Creamery (though the websites suggest that Marble Slab predates Coldstone).

Saturday we drove home in one shot, which I wasn't crazy about but the sister-in-law and her boyfriend had to get back as they had Sox tickets for today (which isn't exactly working out for them, as the A's are currently leading 12-3).

The drive home was about as interesting as the drive down. The Carolinas are incredibly boring, with only the South of the Border billboards to break things up in their inane and vaguely racist way. Virginia isn't much better, but you do go through Richmond and skirt Washington DC.

Maryland reminds me that I have to apologize to Delaware. While their $7 in tolls is a lot for the 25 miles or so you drive on a round-trip drive along I-95, Maryland whacks you for $5 when driving northwards. At least when you get robbed of $6 on the George Washington Bridge, you get to actually cross the bridge and feel like you've paid for its upkeep and the view of the city. The Maryland toll just feels like you're lining the pocket of various elected officials.

New York's stretch of I-95 is the worst of the lot, from the congestion to the absolutely screwed up roadworks that have been going on for at least a decade between the Cross-Bronx Expressway and the New York Thruway toll. Complain all you want about the Big Dig, it's at least made obvious progress. The roadworks in New York just look like they've been moving lanes around on a whim.

Anyway, we got back very early this morning, and are happy to be back, work tomorrow notwithstanding. I don't forsee us going back to Hilton Head any time soon.

I've been away for this long, and all you're getting is talk about football? I'd be pissed, too. Sorry, Greg.

* As happy as I was that the Pats won their opener, I hope they're not going to look that sluggish all season, especially during this opening part of the schedule. Too early to panic, but I would like to see them get Dillon more running room.

* I got killed in both of my cut-throat games on the opening weekend, as I went with Denver and St. Louis, figuring that playing Miami and San Francisco would be the shortest routes to wins. Whoops. Even worse is that St. Louis was my pick in ESPN.com's eliminator game, meaning that I managed to get knocked out even earlier than last season, when I took Green Bay in week 2.

* I did manage to win my first FFL game of the season, which means I've already gotten 25% of my win total from last year. I managed to overcome my application of strategery that resulted in Curtis Martin starting over Deuce McAlister, which was pretty lucky.

* On the college front, it would make some sort of sense in the season where I've put Notre Dame on personal probation that they'd open the season 2-0 and crack the top 10. I think that's too high too quickly, and their game against Michigan State has classic let-down potential. A week too late for Craig, though.

* Though I suppose Craig was somewhat pleased to see Ohio State lose at home to Texas. In the back of my head a USC-Texas tilt for the national title seems pretty likely, though the Big XII title game is usually ripe for an upset (as Texas should know, given their upset of Nebraska back in the day).

* I was mildly irritated that that team from Newton moved up in the rankings after beating BYU and Army. Not the most challenging start, really, though probably a smart one given that they get to jump right in with Florida State as the welcoming committee to the ACC.

* Can someone at Temple finally give in to reality and drop their program to 1-AA? Please?

I really don't have much to say, but figure it's been a while so I should at least check in.

The long weekend was a little shorter for me, as I had to work on Sunday given that upperclasspeople were coming back. Turns out those that did didn't want to rush their student service needs, so it was pretty quiet and I got out early. So I can't complain all that much.

Saturday was full of domestic minutae (oil change, shopping for odds and ends), while Labor Day was actually pretty labor intensive (cleaning prior to having houseguests). Did get the chance to go to New Hampshire to visit family for a while, which was nice. It was a beautiful weekend, which I sadly didn't get to enjoy as much as I'd like.

Undoubtedly, it'll snow next week.

I've been trying to follow the aftermath of Katrina, and have come up with two conclusions regarding the death and destruction:

1. It's everyone's fault.
2. It's no one's fault.

I mean, when you have a Category 4 storm hit levees that are meant to withstand up to Category 3 storms, all of the planning in the world may not help you.

And while I'm leery to wade into the rush to judgement, I do think that having a FEMA director with qualifications somewhat more in line with emergency management than being an executive in the International Arabian Horse Association would be a good idea.

So for all my inability to name all the Whig presidents or figure out the length of a regulation bowling alley, I did get some news this week regarding my ability to answer questions: my MTEL results.

Communication and Literacy Skills

Reading Subtest

Miniumum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 97

Writing Subtest

Minimum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 97

Health Education Subject Test

Minimum Passing Score: 70
My Score: 100

While I liked the twin 97s, I did feel like I'd done well on that test. The 100 on the health test, though, that surprised me. I know the tests are scaled, but I didn't figure on that.

Interrestingly, when each test was broken down into specific areas, the area where I did the least well was on study skills. Which seems appropriate, given that mine deviate pretty broadly from what everyone is told to do. But they work for me, and I suppose these results underscore that.

This all leads to the "now what?" question, which is a good one. I do appear to be qualified for an initial licence (which requires passing the tests and having a BA), but I'm not sure what I'd do with it, especially as I've just started something that, so far, I like. Something to think about.

So while not as vaunted as the Big Quiz Thing that Boggie keeps mentioning, I have been playing in a pub trivia game at the Elephant & Castle with the wife, some former Babsonians, and assorted others. Last night was my third time playing, and we collected our second third-place finish (sandwiching our one win, which qualified us for a Tournament of Champions come October).

In the spirit of having something to write that calls for your comments, and in the way of telling the story of the night, here are some selected questions from the evening. Take your best guess in the comments, with plaudits going to the first one to get it right. Looking up the answers, of course, isn't really in the spirit of things. I'll never know, but you run the risk of whatever post-mortal punishment you think might exist (unless you think it's none, in which case we'll all talk at your wake about how we thought you cheated at trivia).

As questions get answered I'll share in how they were significant for the evening.

Anyway, the questions:

* The Star of India is the largest example of what kind of gemstone? Sapphire (OTC) - This was the first question of the night, which we missed. The wife, we discovered later, knew this. Had she attended, we'd have finished second. So we're blaming everything on her for not being there.

* In 1918, 97 people died in the deadliest rapid transit accident in history. In what US city did this occur? New York City (OTC) - We had a very short list for this question including NYC, Boston, Philly, and Chicago. We discounted Boston as I'd have known about it if it were here, and Philly for no real reason. I then engaged in some song clue analysis (the song played after the question is often a clue), and theorized that the line "Well the Illinois Central/ and the Southern Central Freight" from the Doobie Brothers "Long Train Running" suggested Chicago. We went with it, and were wrong, losing 5 points.

I generally over-analyze one song per game. Too bad this time it was on a round-ending bonus question.

* Name the four US Presidents from the Whig party. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore (Paul) - This question ended the first round, and we only got Taylor and Fillmore. We said Martin Van Buren (which in retrospect I should have caught as wrong) and Franklin Pierce, forgetting about Tippicanoe and Tyler Too.

The interesting wrinkle here is that Tyler got booted from the Whigs not long after taking office, so he spent most of his Presidency as a Democrat (which I guess doesn't even make the question technically wrong; from what I first read I thought he was a Democrat elected on a Whig ticket). Paul's conviction that John Quincy Adams was a Whig does have some merit - he was elected to the US House as a Whig after his run as a Democrat-Republican President.

* In the movie The Shining, what baseball player's signature is on the Louisville Slugger Wendy Torrance uses on her husband Jack? Carl Yazstremski (Paul) - We got halfway there, figuring it for a Red Sox player given King's fandom. Rather than go contemporary, we went classic and said Ted Williams. Had we thought about it for another 30 seconds... we'd probably have still said Teddy Ballgame.

The wife knew this one, too. More room to blame her, then.

* What is the only state without a national park? Delaware (Shawn) - Apparently, Caesar Romney's house doesn't qualify.

This was the final question of the night, where you could bet up to 20 points (and risk losing half if you're wrong). I knew this (from writing a question and from being a national parks geek), so we bet the max. But so did the team we were tied with at the time, requiring a tie-breaker question!

* How long is a regulation bowling alley? 62 feet - Our tiebreaker question, which we were a little stunned to get given that we didn't expect all that many correct answers to the final question (there were at least two others, as the team we tied and the winner both got the question right).

We started off with 60 feet, based on a TV commentator saying something about "60 feet to victory." I thought my teammate said baseball at one point, so I thought there was some confusion. This led to us thinking if I could lie down 10 times on a bowling alley (being 6' 3"), and I didn't think so.

If nothing else, this confirms that I can't judge distances worth a damn.

So we went with 40, which in retrospect is clearly too short. The other team in the tiebreak went with 75 feet. So instead of getting a $25 gift certificate that'd have covered a large chunk of our tab, we got free Sam Adams Black Lager beer (we could have also gotten hats, but passed as we'd gotten hats a couple of weeks before). I wound up drinking two of them, and to be honest I'm not a huge fan. It's OK, better than the typical mass-brewed lager but nothing that would turn me away from ales... which now makes me wish the trivia game was sponsored by Harpoon.

I suppose that's what we get for ignoring the first rule of trivia games - trust your first answer. Then again, we did that a couple of other times in the game and got burned. So maybe the first rule is that there are no rules. Except that seems a little anarchic for something as geektacular as bar trivia. So maybe we just have to learn how to use The Force.

I've been having kind of a running battle with headaches, most notably a couple of weeks ago when they were of the pulsing, head-in-a-vice variety. After getting checked out today, it looks like a double whammy of sinus problems and glasses which are too strong. The former I'd suspected; the latter I hardly expected. The headaches were worse when I wore my glasses, but I'd worn them steadily for some time without real problems.

So after a quick course of medication and new lenses, I should be OK. Keep your fingers crossed.

If anyone out there has an ESPN.com Fantasy Football draft coming up, be prepared for a very problematic Java draft applet. Of course, it could just be us freeloaders who get it. I suppose they'd figure it's what we get for not padding Disney's coffers.

While I've not read the whole thing, there is an article in today's Boston Globe that posits that it would have been better for the Sox to lose the World Series last year. The thesis seems to be that any team can win a World Series (Cubs notwithstanding), but losing them, especially in dramatic fashion, is much harder.

Clearly the author is missing the point that you play the games in the hopes of winning the championship. If you want heart-wrenching endings, go to the opera.

As a cycling fan (probably more a Tour de France fan - I follow some of the other major races, but nowhere near as closely), the latest allegations regarding Lance Armstrong and doping give me room to pause.

But only a little.

In case you've missed it, here's the skinny - the French sports newspaper L'Equipe ran an article earlier this week claiming that urine samples belonging to Armstrong - backup samples taken in 1999 - tested positive for EPO, a banned substance. They did not test positive back then because there was no test for EPO, and they only tested positive now because the lab that had them was using these old samples to perfect current tests.

These samples are anonymous, but the paper managed to link them to Armstrong through some paperwork that connected him with the sample numbers. It's not enough to sanction Armstrong - he'd need positive results from tests on primary samples, which are long gone - but it was proof enough for the paper.

These are probably the most serious allegations of the many levelled at Armstrong regarding doping. Lance, of course, continues to deny that he ever doped and thinks that there's some sort of conspiracy out to get him.

As much as this sounds like he's asking to get fitted for a tinfoil hat, he may have a point.

Consider that the parent company for the newspaper also owns the company that runs the Tour. Which means that when the tour director accepted the story as proving Armstrong's doping, he wasn't just stating opinion. He was toeing the company line.

Consider also that Armstrong has admitted using EPO - not while competing, but while fighting cancer. He's more or less said that EPO kept him alive during treatment. The more cynical might figure that Lance, seeing the benefits of EPO, didn't quite abandon it once he was all better.

Perhaps the biggest thing to consider is that a Frenchman hasn't won the Tour since 1985. Americans have won fully half of the Tours in that span. Riders from Denmark and Ireland (!) have won the Tour in the time since Bernard Hinault took the top step of the podium in 1985.

(Speaking of the podium, a Frenchman hasn't been present on one since 1997.)

This year was an even bigger famine for the French, as they won only one stage - the one on Bastille Day, when the French riders ride a little harder and the other riders let them (as long as it doesn't upset the leaders). If Bastille Day was in, say, October, the French may not have even taken a stage win.

(And, just in case you were wondering, the French were also shut out in the sprint, climbing, and young rider competitions, which were won by guys from Norway, Denmark, and the Ukraine.)

A generation of building futility in a race you pretty much invented will make people mad. They'll look for someone to take it out on.

Enter Lance Armstrong.

I suppose it all boils down to what you think deserves more consideration - the piles of circumstantial evidence tying Armstrong to doping, or the rabid machinations of the press (French and others) who have been gunning for Armstrong since his first Tour win. I can't say I fully trust Armstrong, but I have very little faith in the restraint and ethics of Europe's sports journalists. So I'm sticking with Armstrong - for now.

I've learned something important today. According to Pat Robertson, "take him out" does not mean assassination. It can also include many less lethal options. I assume a trip for ice cream would be included if taken literally, but probably wasn't where Robertson was going with this.

Had I the skill level, an alt history novel about President Robertson's term in office could be very entertaining.

Some good news coming out of the BARC meetings today, at least if you're from New England and have a stake in such things: the New London sub base and the Portsmouth Naval Yard aren't going to close. There is at least one reader who's worked at both and can perhaps provide some personal observations. All I can say is that Maine can use all the jobs it can get, and keeping Portsmouth open will help.

***

A technology-related question: would I be better off getting Tivo or going with the DVR offered by Comcast?

Now that I'm back among the fully employed, we've decided to put some of our new gains into some sort of DVR system. I mess up the VCR thing enough between missed endings and tape-overs that it seems like a good thing to do.

Tivo would cost $13 a month and whatever we pay to buy the box. Comcast's DVR is $10 a month and is combined with our cable box. I've been comparing the services and can't come up with too many differences, though I think the ability to skip commercials is one of them. Not sure if that's a big deal or not; I'm used to fast forwarding through ads when using the VCR.

I'm tending towards the Comcast box just so I don't have to worry about having to buy new boxes in the future, but if you've got something to say here, please do.

***

Not sure why I'm separating things with the asterisks. Do you like it?

***

Still plenty of time to vote about what state I should dislike. Knowing some of you as I do and your love of hatin', I can't imagine why the vote totals are so low. Unless you're hatin' on the poll, which I can respect.

An update from the wife: she does not hate football. She hates the volume of football she's subjected to, which I'd alluded to yesterday.

Which is kind of funny, given that the "volume" of football I watch has actually gone down in the last 10 years. It's just that there's more football now at times you'd not expect it (like Arena games in April and college games on Tuesday nights).

So I guess it's kind of a break-even thing.

***

The Bruce's recent swipe at three states gets my support, at least in two cases. Well, one and a half, really.

I can't talk full smack about New Hampshire, as I do have family there (though in a place where a surveyor's hiccup could have landed them in Massachusetts). And I do like most of the state from an aesthetic standpoint. I'll agree with the Bruce about the Hampton tolls (even worse, the state is getting rid of the toll tokens that you used to be able to get by the roll for half-price), and that their libertarian ethos may be undermined somewhat by having state liquor stores.

Though I suppose if it's a choice between getting people drunk or payroll taxes, New Hampshireites will take the former.

I do, of course, have complete and utter disdain for the UNH men's hockey program (and the women, too, I suppose, now that BU's made the jump to varsity).

Florida gets my full-on approval as a state to dislike. And if you idiots send Scarborough to the Senate, I will personally come down there and start kicking ass. I suppose winding up with Senator-elect Katherine Harris might motivate the same reaction, but it'd be less surprising given that you rewarded her performance in 2000 by making her a US Representative.

The only thing that primary race needs is for David Duke to file papers.

It doesn't help the state that they have weather that I can tolerate for about two months of the year.

Homer Simpson called Florida "America's wang" for a reason, folks.

I've never been to Oregon, so no comment there. I know at least one reader lived there for a while and perhaps will comment on it. After mulling things a bit, my short list of a third state to hate includes:

* Delaware, for supporting its tax-free status by making you pay $39.50 to drive their 4 miles of I-95.

* New York, just because. Though that might be a little on the nose (or perhaps redundant) for a Red Sox fan.

* Indiana, for being the Alabama of the midwest.

* North Dakota, for its idiotic quest to rename itself because north=cold. People were fooled by the name Greenland - in the 12th century. You can call yourself what you like, and it won't change the fact that you probably have the greatest temperature extremes of any state in the continental US. Though I'm sure there's nothing that takes the edge off of a 98 degree day like the thought of the coming -25 degree days.

So, with all this in mind, go vote.

Sticking with today's sports theme (but leaving football), Chris Bourque signed with the Washington Capitals yesterday. Some of you will know him as the son of Bruins great Ray Bourque and burgeoning star of the Boston University hockey team, who left school after this past season to play in the major juniors, only to wind up with the AHL's Portland Pirates.

I know hitting the books wasn't his thing, but he may wish he'd sucked it up a bit more given the prospects for the Caps this year. Heck, a season in Hershey would be an improvement; at least they've got all that chocolate.

Sticking with football, I've set up a couple of ESPN.com groups for the college game:

College Pick 'Em
Group: Pickin' and Grinnin'
Password: touchdown

Thursday Night College Football Challenge
Group: Touchdown Touchback
Password: touchdown

An important fact about tonight's Pats-Saints exhibition: the wife will be attending.

I will not.

A guy at her office had tickets he couldn't use, and offered them up to the first takers. So, she and some of her work buddies got together and claimed them. Leaving none for spouses, friends, or other such people.

Thanks.

I know, it's pre-season, why should I care, except for three reasons:

1. The wife doesn't like football. Although she's now amended her stance to disliking my habit of watching football. So it's not the Pats, but the other NFL, NCAA, AFL, and CFL games.

I don't buy that for a minute.

2. The only Pats game I've been to was a dismal affair which I think I've mentioned here before: a loss to the Seahawks in a cold drizzle in the upholstered toilet that was (at the time) Sullivan Stadium.

3. I've not been to Gillette Stadium. That's really what I'm most irritated about. Though perhaps I can talk the wife into going to the US-Panama World Cup qualifier on October 12. It may wind up being irrelevant (a win against Mexico next month gets us in), but if not it could be the clincher, which would be cool.

So I just got around to changing my voice mail, and I ran into an unusual problem with the internal greeting, which is just my name.

It was too short.

The messaging system, disapproving of the economy of my name, subbed in my regular greeting, which is much longer. I finally got my name in, but had to say it very slowly. It sounds like I'm talking to a three year old.

Looking at this week, I will have made dinner at home exactly once.

Sunday: Subway
Monday: The Continental
Tuesday: The Elephant & Castle, a mock-British pub in the Financial District. They serve what I'd call "modern English" cuisine (minus the New Wave hair). I had a dish where roast beef and onions were stuffed in a Yorkshire pudding. Yum. I was there for pub trivia, where my team finished third. We got Sam Adams hats. Woo.
Wednesday: I had to cook. Boo. Turned out fine, considering.
Thursday: Picco on Tremont in the South End. The name is short for Pizza and Ice Cream Company, which sums up their menu pretty well. There are a few non-pizza items, but just a few. No appetizers, either, which was odd. Got their "Alsacian Variation" pizza, a combo of sour cream, bacon, caramelized onions, and gruyere cheese. It was quite tasty. Dessert was gingerbread with whipped cream and fruit topped with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, which was fantastic.
Friday: The Barking Crab, down on the waterfront. You may remember this as the place that got shut down a few years ago when they managed to have some of their sewer pipes drain into their shellfish tanks. They seem to have corrected the problem and persevered, but just the same I'm glad the fish is already filleted. Had the fish and chips, which was fine.
Saturday: Had plans to go out with family to celebrate a run of birthdays, but they fell through. But we're still fired up to eat out, so we're going on our own. We may continue to eat our way around Route 1 (another reason for our stop at The Continental), but perhaps we'll stay closer to home. Good thing we ate at the Barking Crab yesterday; too damn hot today to eat somewhere that's not air conditioned.

Along these lines, I got free lunch all week as a welcome to Wentworth and as an opportunity to get together with folks from my office and the admissions office, which is in the same division. This was four days of the limited menu at the dining hall (they're renovating) and Friday at Qdoba. Now how did I get suckered into making my own breakfasts?

Seeing Craig's football look-ahead (and Greg's non-football one), I thought of something:

Wentworth: no football
Babson: no football
BU: no football (now)
New England School of Law : no football (or any varsity athletics, it being a grad/professional school)

I have to go all the way back to high school (or the last academic year, depending on how you want to look at it) to find an institution whose football season I could handicap.

Considering the Hornets of Manchester-Essex went 0-11 last year, looking ahead may not be that compelling.

Going back to a couple of days ago, I managed to walk into the wrong cubicle again today. Thankfully, its occupant wasn't there. This time.

Following up the last post (where I should note that my disdain comes from the lame attempt to come up with a sequel to buying the world a Coke, not from any problem with Coca-Cola Zero, which I've never had - unless it's just repackaged C2), I find it entertaining that one of the ads clearly show the Philadelphia skyline. When I think of cities with people who've learned how to chill, Philly's not exactly in my top 10.

I mean, they had a mayor bomb his own consitutents once. Not that any of them were exactly beacons of civic involvement, but still.

It may explain why the people in the ad are on some random rooftop. Were they loose in the streets, loyal citizens would be compelled to bind and gag them and throw them in the Schuykill.

I would like to state for the record that if anyone hands me a Coca-Cola Zero and tries to teach me to chill, I will commit some unspecified act upon their person. Probably not a welcome one, either.

Had my first entertainingly embarrasing moment today, when I walked into another person's cubicle thinking it was mine. To be fair, they're in the same part of the office and are similarly situated in their respective cluster of cubicles. But I still felt like a dope.

Now if that's the biggest problem I have this week...

So busy!

Before the weekend was tying up loose ends before starting the new job. This was domianted by a media rating project involving foreign-language articles which took a lot of time, given that (a) most of the special characters were stripped, requiring some work to replace with the letter minus its accent, and (b) we used a translator program that gave "gisted" translations, meaning more literal and less idiomatic. So it was a lot of the European equivalent of Engrish.

The weekend brought us up to Maine, which was pretty restful until Sunday morning, when I went with the wife and the sister in law for a hike in the Camden Hills State Park. We did something between 3 and 4 miles on rocky, tree root-infested trails. I also got to give a quick course in reading terrain maps which boiled down to "close lines=steep climbing."

Even with the leg-shattering climbs, we weren't all that sore afterwards. Perhaps more hiking in the future, though perhaps on gentler, clearer trails.

Today was my first day at the new job, which went pretty well. The commute was pretty smooth, though if we are going to stay in our current weather pattern I may risk taking the Green Line given that I'd spend less time walking through humidity. As for actual job stuff, it was the usual first day experience where you get a ton of information and hope a quarter of it sticks. We're about two week away from the biggest graduation ceremony (due to co-op requirements, though there is a smaller May ceremony), so I'm getting in at just the right time to see how things work in practice. Even better, my first graduation is in February, which is the smallest of the three (it doesn't even get its own ceremony).

Everything else is good so far - like the work environment, and the people are great.

After work, the wife and I had a birthday dinner at The Continental on Route 1. For those of you planning your SNL joke for the comments, don't, because this place is pretty much what you'd get if you transmogrified Christopher Walken in an ascot into a restaurant. The whole place feels like it's from 1973, from the decor to the very traditional menu. That being said, we both enjoyed our meals and the prices extremely reasonable. We've paid more for less at chain restaurants. I don't know if we'd go there regularly, but I could see it being in the rotation. Especially if we're with the in-laws.

Not too much else to report. Sad to see Peter Jennings go (we were an ABC household), but perhaps not unexpected with the lung cancer and all. Think happy thoughts for the Discovery crew, and hope that that thermal blanket thing isn't too serious. Really, it may be time we either build some new, less problematic Shuttles or bring back more traditional rocket-based systems. It doesn't do you much good to have a re-useable space plane if you have to keep grounding them or spend half the mission making repairs.

Time for a variation on the "fun with iTunes" meme that was kicking around for a while. For the following 20 musical artists, you must name the one song I have of theirs in my iTunes. Some of these should be pretty easy, others less so. Put your guesses in the comments, and I'll make notations as the songs are correctly identified.

Time's up, here's the lineup:

1. 10CC - "The Things We Do For Love" (Greg). Heard it at lunch one day at Babson and it got stuck in my head until I got my own copy.

2. Aaron Neville - "These Arms of Mine," which I seem to have gotten from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. No worries; I do not have a copy of "She's Like the Wind."

3. America - "Sister Golden Hair" (Matt).

4. Annie Lennox - "Why" (Greg). It's an unplugged version, not sure if it's "official" MTV Unplugged or not.

5. Badfinger - "No Matter What" (JQ). I also got mine thanks to the Outside Providence soundtrack.

6. Bill Withers - "Lean On Me" (Greg).

7. Buckner & Garcia - "Pac Man Fever" (Scott). Though I was more of an Asteroids fan, really.

8. Carbon Leaf - "Life Less Ordinary" (Craig).

9. The Cure - "Close to You," from Craig's tournament.

10. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Take Five" (Scott).

11. Dixie Chicks - "I Can Love You Better." Like I said, the wife put this one on.

12. Englebert Humperdink - "Lesbian Seagull" (JQ).

13. Frank Sinatra - "Somewhere Beyond the Sea."

14. General Public - "Tenderness" (Greg).

15. Jewel - "You Were Meant For Me" (James). Off of the Live on Letterman CD, credited as Jewel with Flea. With that pairing, I had to keep it.

16. Living Colour - "Cult of Personality" (Matt).

17. Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (Greg). Ironic, don't you think?

18. Rufus Wainwright - "April Fools" (Greg).

19. The Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (JQ). Ja!

20. Strawberry Alarm Clock - "Incence and Peppermint" (Matt). Not sure why I have this or where it came from. I suppose it's my music for freaking out squares, given that I have no Billy Joel.

Enjoy!

Our long national nightmare - OK, my long personal nightmare - is finally over.

I am once again employed in a full-time capacity.

Starting Monday, I'll be an assistant registrar at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, a tech/engineering/design school in Boston next door to Northeastern. The main focus of the job is all things graduation, though I'll have other duties as well, of course.

It was a long wait - a very long wait - but I think it'll be worth it. Though I may sing a different tune once I've gotten into commuting again. Thankfully, it's a pretty easy trip on public transportation, with options of taking the Green or Orange lines on the T, which is better than being beholden to the Green line.

I should give special thanks here to the wife, whose patience and support during the non-working bordered on the superhuman at times.

Interesting note: I'll be starting at Wentworth on the same day as I did at Babson: August 8. That's also my birthday, which makes this all the more... interesting? Unusual? Notable only to me? Do with it what you will.