Trivia

The plan yesterday was to go to Hugh O'Neils in Malden for trivia night, which is put on by this company called Stump. We've done them a bunch, as they do about 20 trivia nights every night throughout Boston, and to tell you the truth, I find it very difficult. The questions are more about precise knowledge and less about trivia, so if I don't know the category, I'm usually out of luck.

But anyhow, yesterday I sent out feelers to people for trivia, but there wasn't much interest. Nobody wants to drive out to the sticks, and even though technically we are only 15 minutes from Somerville, it's more like 45 minutes to get anywhere in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville once you factor in traffic and lights and whatnot. It sucks, but I know what it's like... I had the same viewpoint when I lived in the city.

Well, Liz at least wanted to go, and Julie and Shawn said they'd go, so all we needed was the team ace, Larry, and we'd have a good group. But Larry didn't feel like making the drive either - not only is it 45 minutes, but it's been raining for days up here and the roads suck, and he wasn't able to get in touch with his girlfriend.

Now earlier in the day, my friend Val started bugging me to go to the gym with her. The last time I went to the gym I was in my 20s, but I figured this was a good opportunity to catch up with her (it's been a few months) and if anyone could use some gym time, I imagine it's me. So I went, and while I'm sore as shit as I write this, the upside was that I convinced her to join us for trivia as well.

So Liz and Val came over to our place, we hung out for a little bit, I made Roasted Toasted Almonds, yummy. We all started talking and before we knew it, it was almost 8, which is when trivia started. So I suggested another plan.

A couple of weeks ago, Liz and I stumbled on this bar as we were lost in Saugus (actually Peabody, but whatever) called the Sylvan Street Grille. We were about to go to some generic place, Applebees or something, but as we were making a turn to go there, I saw this place and said it looked like a dump full of townies, so we went there instead.

Turns out, the place is pretty cool. Half is a restaurant, which is sparsely populated during the week, but the other half is a bar, which is kickin' 7 days a week. We waited for a first-come table in the bar for like an hour, befriending this waitress named Julie, who eventually hooked us up with a spot. No sooner did we sit down to look at the menu then we heard an announcement - "Trivia will be starting in 5 minutes so everybody grab a seat!"

Score!

So we played, Liz and I, against 9 other teams. The max team size was 8 people, and most of the other 9 teams took advantage of this and had at least 6. This wasn't put on by Stump, it's just a sole entrepreneuer who does it every Wednesday. Long story short, our team, we came in 3rd, firmly establishing Wizard's Sleeve as an immediate force in this new game.

Unto this game, which started at 9, I did bring this motley crew. And this crew did shine.

Although we again had an hour's wait to get a table, even with Julie helping us find a table again, and nearly causing Shawn to smash his head into a splintery bench, trivia for some reason was delayed until 9:30, so by the time it started we had a table, and had made friends with the couple who had been sitting there before us, we we convinced to join the team, making us 7 strong. They ended up being key members, nailing a few questions that none of us would have known: what vitamin is retinal, and 2 heisman trophy winners from USC.

Each round has 10 questions. Round 1 we got 9, and were alone in first. Round 2 we got 10, and were alone in first. Round 3 (bonus round) we got 10, and were alone in first. Going into the final round we had (easy math) 39/40. But two other teams had 38 and were right up our ass. The 4th round was tough.

What snake-like word was used to represent "peace democrats"?
Who was the oldest New Kid on the Block?
What was Wonder Woman's alter ego?
What boxing referee voiced himself on MTV Celebrity Deathmatch?
What 7 Sisters school became part of Harvard in 19__? (I don't remember the year offhand)
What magazine did Christa Miller appear on the first cover of, in 1995?

Shawn said "Copperhead" for the first... but someone suggested "Cottonmouth" and convinced us to go with that - hey, it sounded much more peacey!

We only got 7 of the 10 right... Sickeningly, we got Radcliff wrong - hard to believe for 7 Bostonians, including 2 teachers and a BU faculty member. Christa Miller was on the cover of Maxim, which we got right, but it was in 1997 (I'll tell him next time). We got the NKOTB wrong, and we could only remember "Mills" not "Mills Lane", who is the ref.

But everybody else had a tough time too, and we won, taking down $50. Actually, we tied, so we would have won $100. Looks like Sylvan Street is going to be the new hangout on Wednesday nights!

The weekend

This is reposted from Julie's blog:

I got home from work on Friday and Eric, my brother, decided that he really wanted good lobster for dinner and was determined to drive up to the Maine Diner in Wells, Maine just to have some. So after a lot of convincing, he finally got Shawn, Liz and I to agree to go. We went to pick up Liz and realized that since the diner closed at 9 pm and it was just after 7, and that it takes 1.5 hours to get there with no traffic, that perhaps we would be cutting it close.




A new plan was determined. We would stop by the apartment, pick up some stuff, drive up to Maine (Portland specifically, we thought), spend the night in some crappy motel, and then go to the Maine Diner for brunch on Saturday.




So thats just what we did. We got some stuff from the apartment, of course forgetting some of the most essential things like underwear, tooth brush, clean pants, and then started on the drive to Maine. We stopped by the first New Hampshire state store to pick up some refreshments, and Liz was overly excited to see that they sold Pimm's and bought two. We continued on our way to Maine and did not stop until we got to Portland.




As it turned out, it was quite chilly and windy in Maine. This wasn't much different than the weather in Boston, but for some reason, we had not considered the possibility that walking around Portland would suck due to weather. We parked our car and quickly decided on a restaurant. We went to DiMillos Restaurant which is located on a boat, so they call it a floating restaurant. Food was very good, but most (damn you, Shawn) avoided the lobster because prices were especially high. The waiter claimed that they were higher than they have ever been because lobsterman have been making fewer trips to see because lobster demand was low.




Anyways, after dinner we decided it was too cold to do anything but get in the car and find some place to crash for the night. We ended up at a Days Inn in South Portland, which was decent enough, and had wireless internet as a bonus. The decision was made to stay in the hotel and drink rather than go back out and find a bar at which to drink. Eric tried to get everyone to play cranium, and we got as far as taking out the pieces, but everyone decided they were too tired and we watched some tv and called it a night.

We woke up early and decided to finally play a round of Cranium. We started with Shawn and I versus Eric and Liz. Eric and Liz pulled out far ahead. We decided to switch things up in the middle of the game and I went to Liz's winning side and Eric went to Shawn's losing side. The game continued, Shawn and Eric caught up quite a bit, but in the end, the ladies won the game. After a cup of coffee and a bite of bagel, and Eric going out for 30 minutes to buy Liz some new underwear, we departed the hotel around 11 am.

We headed south toward Kittery. We follwed some signs that led up through Kittery and all the way to Portsmouth, NH before we turned around to search for signs to the outlets. We stopped at a Dairy Queen to get a blizzard, since there isnt a DQ nearby, and there was a moment where Liz flipped out about her taxes in Arkansas being filed late. Moving on, we stopped at a few outlet malls, but not the traditional outlets. We hit a brookstone, a Linens N Things, a Naturalizer and Easy Spririt, and a Cole Haan. No one found anything and we started to get hungry.

We traveled north on route 1 for about 20 miles until we found the diner. We had a short wait but it was certainly worth it. As a table, we ordered 2 seafood chowders (deliciously filled with clams, scallops, lobster, shrimp), 3 lobster rolls (very light mayo, good flavor, lightly buttered toasted roll), 1 reuben sandwhich, a half order of onion rings (which could have served 8), a crab cake, and a bunch of pickles. The prices here were certainly more reasonable than at dinner and the food just as satisifying and yummy.

After lunch, Eric decided we needed to go to Manchester, NH and Liz decided we needed to drive down 1A which goes along the coast. So we headed down route 1 until 1A and took a tour of the ocean and the extravagent homes overlooking it. This is not an ideal passage for the quessy as it twists and turns the entire way. When we were satified with our viewings, we headed off west to Manchester.

In Manchester, we went to a gun shooting range. Specifically, the Manchester Firing Line Range.Eric and Shawn decided to do some target shotting with two guns, one with the six bullets in the circular thingy and one that you pack all the bullets in and then insert in the gun. Ask them if you want to know what they shot. They even got Liz to shoot the guns, and she hit the red part of the target 3 out of 6 times which we all thought was quite impressive. We left when all the bullets were gone and both Eric and Shawn were surprised at the cost of this experience.

At this point, we just wanted to drive back to Boston. We headed in the car back east to get to 93. Eric was driving when all of a sudden he said "Julie, there's something really wrong with your car." And all of a sudden the car started to slow down on its own and while Eric was suggesting we could make it to the next exit (and mentally freaking out and searching for a place to pull over from the left lane), we all screamed at him to cut over the lanes and take the exit that was in 15 feet. The car went slowly down the exit ramp and came to a stop across a gas station. Liz steered while Eric, Shawn and I pushed the car across the street and to get some gas. We ran out of gas! because Eric had not seen the light that comes on when gas it running low. We refueled on were on our way.

We finally got home around 8 pm and ordered some italian for a local place. Eric, Liz and Shawn got their booze on and I called it a night around 11. I had had enough adventure for a 24 hour time period.

More killed in Iraq, Iran increasing their nuclear program but HOLD EVERYTHING
, IMUS CALLED SOME NAPPY-HEADED HOS, NAPPY-HEADED HOS!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!!

Potential letter to landlord

So, I'm currently living with Julie in Boston. I think everyone who reads this know that. Our rent is $950. The landlord sent us a letter saying she wants to raise the rent $300 for me being here. Here is the response I prepared. Comments are welcome.

Dear Debbie,

I received your letter dated April 4, 2007. I double checked my email and it does appear that I sent it to the proper address, deb851@aol.com, on March 3, 2007. Perhaps it got stuck in your spam box as you suggested.

Regarding the change in rent due to my brother Eric moving in, I feel that the increase you are proposing may be a bit excessive. You suggest that the additional resources he will use would cost you $300 per month. You list those resources as follows:

• Electricity
• Water
• Air conditioning
• Wear and tear on apartment
• Wear and tear on laundry machines

While these are certainly valid concerns, you will be glad to know that some are unfounded, and others are, fortunately, much less expensive than you may think.

Electricity: Eric being in the apartment will undoubtedly lead to change in electricity usage. However, we do not expect our electricity usage to increase much at all. The only new electrical uses will be for his laptop (60 watts, 4 hours a day) and a bedside lamp (60 watts, 10 minutes a day). There are some changes to our current electric usage as well: the lights in our bathroom will be on more (240 watts, 30 minutes a day), the TV will be used more (80 watts, 2 hours a day), the microwave (1500 watts, 5 minutes a day), and the washer and dryer will be used an additional 4 hours a month. There is a great tool for deducing the cost of one’s electricity at http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html. Using this site, we determined that Eric’s electrical use is about $6.80 per month.

Water: We went through all of the various things one uses water for during the course of a month in order to determine the cost of additional water. Fortunately, the federal government has a Web site that helps you with this, http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sq3.html
It turns out that in the course of a day, Eric uses about 32 gallons of water. This includes a ten minute shower, three flushes of the toilet, two hand-washings, two tooth-brushings, and a 3-4 glasses of drinking water. This comes out to 960 gallons per month. Additionally, he runs two loads of laundry a month, another 10 gallons each time. We run our dishwasher 3-4 times per month – each load uses 20 gallons. So the total for all this water use is about 1,050 gallons.=

According to http://www.mwraadvisoryboard.com/2006%20Survey%20Master%20Document.pdf (the MWRA is the agency that charges for water & sewage) water & sewage combined cost $0.095 per gallon. This translates into $10.05 per month in additional water & sewage usage due to Eric’s residency.

Air conditioning: We will not be adding another air conditioning unit. The hours that we have the air conditioners running will not change, nor will the temperature at which they are set.

Additionally, you have stated (and we have agreed to pay) that you wish to charge us an additional $25 per month for air conditioning this summer.

Wear and tear on apartment: We feel that this is covered by our security deposit, which provides for funds in case we leave the apartment in a state of disrepair. In addition, Eric does not engage in any activities that would alter the state of the apartment. What little time he spends in the apartment is mainly spent on our furniture – couches, beds, chairs, etc. He certainly would not be altering or diminishing the state of the apartment in any way.
Wear and tear on laundry machines: Typically, one can expect a washer and dryer to last 10 years. We tried to find the prices of your models online, but failed. But let’s assume that they cost $1000 total. This comes out to $8.33 per month in cost. Split between the three apartments in this residence, this comes out to $2.78 per unit, of which Eric would be responsible for a third of our portion, or $0.93 per month. In addition, we already pay for the machines – in fact, Eric will be paying $4 per month in quarters.

So, if we add this all up, we get the following:

• Electrical: $6.80
• Water: $10.05
• A/C: $0.00
• Wear to apartment: $0.00
• Wear to laundry: $0.93
• Total: $17.78

Looking at these numbers, we think you will agree that your proposed rent increase of $300 is far out of line with the actual cost of Eric’s arrival, and we hope you will consider allowing us to continue to be tenants by modifying your request. Since it is possible we are underestimating Eric’s resource usage, we would like to err on the side of caution and assume he will use almost three times as many resources as we estimate - $50 a month – thus, we hope you will agree to raise our rent to $1000.

On another note, we have been having some problems around the apartment that we are hoping you can help us out with. Specifically:

• The light outside our back door does not work. The bulb is not the problem.
• We cannot make a copy of the key to the front door. We have tried making four keys at three different locations, and all four do not work.
• The bolt lock on the front door does not work.
• The heat vent in the closet in the bedroom facing the street does not work.
• The light in the closet in the bedroom facing the street does not work – the string/cord broke.

Please get back to us at your convenience about these issues.

Thank you,

Shawn, Julie, and Eric Engel