We are the Champions!

Those outside of Mt. Pleasant may not know that one of our latest habits is to go to Wednesday trivia night at Guiseppes's, the pizza/Pittsburgh type restaurant where John got his first job as a busboy. This trivia is different than the Mike Calder's we used to do. Here there is a live guy reading live questions over about a two hour period. Needless to say, you drag out your meal.

Anyway, we first went to this sometime in the past year and actually finished 2nd on one of our early attempts. This got us hooked and we probably make 2-3 Wednesdays/month. Here's how it usually goes.

During the day we round up possible peoples including Bayne, Lynda, Isabelle, Caroline, friends of Isabelle and Caroline, possibly a fellow of Bayne's, John or Claire if they are in town, our neighbors the Neyle's, and Beka joined us once. Isabelle then gets there early (game starts at 7:15 pm - she gets there about 6:35-40 pm) to get a table. She then goes to continual text mode asking all of the rest of us where we are and why aren't we there yet. For some reason she doesn't like sitting at a table for 6 or 8 by herself for 30 minutes in plain sight of the multitude of people waiting near the door for a table with there little beepers.

Eventually we all show up and tell the guy up front that EL GATO is here. Yes, you read right. We are EL GATO! We note which other regulars are there as he reads out the names to start (Buzzin like Aldrin, Curly Top and the Brain, And currently in first place, etc.). We order and begin answering. On good nights they ask more geography, science, history, math and we do okay. Other times 80's and 90's pop culture predominates and we rely heavily on our guests or else go down hard. The game consists of 4 rounds of 3 questions each for which you can designate 1, 3, or 5 points for each group of 3 depending on which answers you have more confidence in. You then get a halftime question, usually a four parter worth 2 points a piece. Then 2nd half begins with same format but you get 2, 4, or 6 points. Finally there is a finaly quest where you can actually lose points. You can wager anywhere from 0 to 15 points. This question is almost always key to deciding who wins.

So, last Wednesday, I (Bayne) jogged over to Guiseppe's and joined Isabelle and her friend Hayley who had of course arrived early. But not early enough this time as they were holding a beeper waiting at the bar. Arrrgh! Fortunately we were seated before the game began. John joined us right before the first question (What city did Arkansas send the National Guard to to stop school integration in the 1950's - correct answer - Little Rock - yea, 1 for 1). Dirk Koester, one of my interventional fellows joined us shortly after that and he was key. To move ahead, we only missed ONE in the first half and were in second place! Woot! Actually when the guy read out scores he had us in 8th place, but Isabelle, the proactive one, immediately went up and pointed out his error which he humbly announced. We knew things were looking good with the halftime question being Science - Chemistry. Name 4 of the 6 elements on the periodic table whose last letter is "e". Answer at end if you want to think. Dirk, John, and I were ready as was the rest of the table, I believe. And sure enough, once we thought of one the others quickly fell in line.

We missed one or two in the second half but when he announce the scores at the end of regulation we were in first place by 5 points. Questions we got:
Other name for the third Arab-Israeli war?
State whose 2 letter postal code is same as last 2 letters of its state capital?
Name 1 canadian hockey team that made the Stanley Cup playoffs this year?
Which horse track is not part of the Triple Crown - Churchhill Downs, Pimilico, Belmont, Saratoga
Questions we missed:
Which fruit ripens after being picked: peach, plum, or pineapple
Which planet goes around the sun faster than it rotates through one day?

We were feeling good for the last question, but then he announced the category was movies. Arrgh. Isabelle correctly said "Selbies stay out of this" (If Claire had been there it would have been different). By the way, at this point John had left to hear a band one of his friends was in and Mom had shown up. Anyway, question was put movies in order of when they came out: 7 days, 6 nights - 7 years in Tibet - Seven - and 7th sign (I think?!?) Hayley had a good feeling and wrote down here choices, but Dirk had a better feeling and wrote down his. There was one discrepency, but since Dirk could actually name the year each movie came out we went with his.

And yes, we were victorious! $55 was the prize and we used it to pay for our dinner (well, most of it anyway).

So, next time you are here on a Wednesday, ask us if we're going to trivia!

Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Fluorine, Astatine, Manganese

6 days war
New York (Albany)
Calgary (or Montreal or one other I forget)
Saratoga

peach!?!?
Venus