Trivia 2002 Wrapup
Norwigan Studs, We Were Ruff Enuff: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Contract Mono
McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studabegger, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe. We didn’t start the fire; we are the fire!
Ha! You would think after this year’s contest, I would know how to
spell Studebaker. No, not stutibeger, studabiger, or even
stud-a-bagger. (that’s Davy) Maybe it is because I rivaled conscious
hours with unconscious hours this year. It’s all good though,
because I have Mono. Really.
I know a couple of you have been wondering, “When is Benny gonna
write that wrap-up letter?!” I know, because almost everyone has
asked. :) So to make up for this, I tied together 6 pages of single
spaced fluff, becoming the work of art which appears on your screen.
Truth be told, I enjoy digesting experiences mentally, and mull over
them a few thousand times before I actually have to do something
about it. Usually I use this one on homework. And now in retrospect,
what stands out the most? Parade! (Well, for those of us involved at
least). It really seems to be the Norwigan’s moment in the
spotlight. How else were we going to get pizza? This of course isn’t
to say that our team functioning throughout the contest wasn’t like
a finely tuned trivia question answering, stone getting, running
question running, methodically advanced system, powered by years of
errors and wisdom. We even called in the right number this year.
I realized this year that the contest has become important enough to
us that it has become a five day event. The fun started on Thursday
when I arrived home, surprised of course, that no one was there yet
early Thursday, since Phe0n and Iverczak were already setting up
computers when I got there last year! Tables! Oh my, did we have
tables. It was absolutely satisfying to see we had enough tables and
chairs for everyone this year. Davy was even kind enough to ditch
classes and help me tow the omnib00t to the garage for renovations.
We also cannot forget the 110%, full throttle, tireless job of
making all the trivia t-shirts. Everyone was occupied, and we worked
well into the morning on Friday.
I believe an initial computer count Friday morning put us at eight
machines. And this was before most of the people started showing up!
May I suggest that we rapidly approached 3667 computers/players this
year? Hehe. It seems no matter how many tynes we are in the parade,
3:30 always seems to come around awfully quick! 3:07 and the float
is still getting painted, and the periscope getting attached. I
can’t complain though. At least we made it this year! Which reminds
me… Iverczak, you still owe me $5 (he bet Feun and I that the float
wouldn’t make it(granted, he thought I didn’t learn a thing, and was
going to drive it there again this year)). We had everything this
year! A self-propelled float that almost resembled a submarine, and
attractive, loosely clad females being pulled behind! What a combo!
Word is that the lens cases were especially welcome too. Most teams
promote tooth decay. We are all about eye protection. We owned those
pizzas. Besides, it was a matter of pride this year. (Sean Connery
voice) The day is ours! I’ll take the PenIs Mightier for 100. Or was
that The rapist? Trebek!
It was a loaded house Friday night! I hadn’t even thought to count
at the tyne.
And Trivia Begins. Never has so much teen energy been assembled, to
provide so much pleasure to Alec, to be reaped by so few others.
Didn’t Andrew Jackson say that? I don’t remember. Of course, at
about the same tyne trivia was firing up, I was busy draggin my
fanny, with Alec and Sammy, through Copps to locate some quality
foods. BTW, I heard the first question answer was still Robert
Redford this year…. Oz’ll get us when we least expect it. It was all
traveling smoothly until we found our way to the soda. 12-packs,
county market ‘low price guarantee’ $3.29. Yeah. But you know what
the bastards were doing? At the same time, they were selling six
packs of 24 ounce bottles for only $1.99. Usually that’s what they
charge for 12-packs around trivia tyne. I realized they are actually
trying to get us to consume more soda than normal. Sure, it’s the
same number of ounces, but divided only six ways. People will drink
what they are served… I know I would just because it is there.
Communists – Capitalist bastards! So we went to Copps and ended up
scoring 25 12-packs for only $2.89 a piece. What a deal. Can you
imagine the shear amount of half-cracked poundage*16 (ounce) that
would be left around the house? I don’t think so!
Again this year, I thought it would be appropriate to catch some
Zzzs right away Friday night, and wake up early Saturday to relieve
the crew that was up all night. Life had its way again, and I had a
threesome with Iverzcak and Lisa (you were my favorite), and by that
tyne, whatdayaknow?!! 3am brat tyne! Back to the ole grindstone,
gotta keep the kids happy. We were lucky Alec had enough foresight
to purchase 12 pounds of brats. 6 pounds of sausage a night was
almost borderline. I even made up some cr0n on Sunday morning along
with the brats. Remember? That’s when I offered some to Anne, and
she responded crazily thinking that I had offered her some porn.
Everyone’s like.. “What???” And I thought my mind was in the gutter.
Seriously though, 3am brats have to be one of the best deals…
Surfacing two hours before the dawn to down some quality beer
boiled, slow cooked to perfection cow. Mmm. I better change the
subject before I start to drool.
Now Saturday? That’s just a blurr. I think I spent most of it lying
on the ground underneath Cheesie. We were at like 110% computer
usage (minus locked puters). If only half of us would have just
slept and saved it up for Sunday! Guitars Strummed, Movies played,
Dan slept, questions were won. Up to this point the team has some
pretty solid backbone, with solid searchers. Little did the Norwigan
studs in 50th place know that Team Benny was up to bat on Saturday
night. With the Iversons asleep, the team went into high gear, with
overtiredness being the key factor involved. First of all, everyone
was still quite worked up from all Anne’s infatuation with pr0n, so
it could be said that that “broke the seal.” Then pirate jokes came
back into style and what do you call a dog with no legs and steel
balls being dragged behind a car? Did ErikR ever find out I tagged
the entire front side of his monitor with dry erase marker? That was
pretty. That was all just to kill time between questions of course.
We pushed the dead hours back about 6 hours this year. Normally it
is Meaple and I awake at 6am Sunday struggling to answer questions…
but this tyne around it was… well I’m not even sure, because I was
asleep, but the only one I could say for sure was awake was Steve,
after having all that rest time on his crew trip. I know it was
pretty slow around noon throughout the afternoon. This is maybe
something to work on again? Surely I was no example. Almost everyone
(phe0n) was up and kicking around six however, and we trivia-ed like
there was no tomorrow. Of course there wasn’t, but that’s beside the
point. The funk slid us through our final hours with his reserved
lady’s man dialogue with the trivia phone operator. Then the final
question was upon us, and not even Iverczak could pull us through
this time! That one was baffling. Then, of course, It was time to
listen for our final rank and give out our awards of our own! 77th
place! Sorta disappointing, but as I discussed with the phe0n, we
are just at the downside in our cyclic placement rotation. Then
again, when you multiply 77 by our 0.707 fun factor, you get 54th
Place!! Now that’s what I call progress! What a great year. I know
you are all wondering how it worked out financially. Good news.
Thanks to everyone being so nice and generous, we actually broke
even this year! We even had enough money to pay for the $30
registration and the $8 worth of paint for the float! Please, accept
my graph:
May I present the winners of this years trivia awards?
The coveted third annual Erik Richar Iverson Memorial Mono Award (ERIMMA)
goes to Dan Smith! Lending his priorities to sleep.
The second annual “My Spanish Teacher is a Stripper” Award for most
opened cokes again goes to Dan Smith, who this year racked in 3.5
Score half cracked cans of soda. Even one Tab! Great improvement of
291% from last year Dan!
The Third annual Josh & Sara Memorial "We were sleeping.... Really!"
Award goes to Maia and Davy just because.
The Second annual Libby Hacker Hoeller Award for the most computers
hacked goes to Juan "J.Go" Gonzalez for an innumerable amount of
hacks from his remote playing location in Madison. It was comforting
knowing you were watching over us Juan, and all we had to do was ask
politely, and you turned the cable back on.
The First annual “She’s the tallest girl in her class” award which
is presented to the team player showing the most outstanding
dedication to the team’s performance, was given to Jeremy R.
Iverczak. Well Done.
The Norwigan Studs: Are we Ruff Enuff?
• Jeremy, you were vital to the operation! Three hours of sleep the
whole weekend right? You still owe me $5
• Dan, you were the navigator of the float this year, and your
differentiation between right and left was impeccable. Didn’t hit a
thing!
• Alec, great work designing the shirts with dan this year. I think
everyone was thoroughly impressed. Except, I’m pretty sure my name
isn’t centered on my shirt.
• Davy, thanks for ditching classes on Thursday and Friday for me!
And Monday. It was nice having someone else to help me with the
float, and tow it around town.
• Maia, you are an excellent float painter, and a good sleep! It’s
always a pleasure getting you furiously mad when you ‘need sleepie.’
• Dave, brother of Maia, son of Reck, I appreciate the offer of rape
and pillage. It’s a crimper, not a punch down tool, dirty rat
bastard.
• ErikR, excellent work with StudsNoc. Bet you didn’t know about
your monitor, huh! I know, once with mono, always with mono. Hi M.
• LittleIvy, did you have your twenty hours in the bowl writing
questions this year? Like a true Iverson, the art of internet search
is in your blood.
• Holz, I remembered the tortillas and cheese pizza this year!
Thanks for being the sunshiny face and certified RMT in the group!
• Anne and the bf, you were one of the few question writers this
year. A special thanks for the long hours of dedication! It is truly
appreciated.
• Meaple, we didn’t get our 6 hours of fame this year, pulling the
team through the wee hours of Sunday morning. Lets see if you can
bring a laptop to trivia for everyone next year! Courtesy Point
Journal, of course.
• Flogemo and following, it was good of you to show up, even though
you had a busted leg. I appreciate having someone to find and
receive the stones.
• Schauffy, Lisa and Lil One, you are truly a sign of the times.
We’re all starting to feel older now, having friends with families.
Thank You!
• Tush, Rachael and other, ya’ll were basically the other half of
our float, and obviously you must know what OZ likes, being we took
first place…
• Chris and friend, former winner of the ERIMMA returns! Even though
you didn’t know you won it :P Your speed searching still amazes me.
• Scuba Gooding Junior, the answer is brick! Maybe next year we can
improve response time, and you’ll only tell me the right answer 3
secs before I call in the wrong one!
• Wayner, way to be our Sunday day refresher man. Even when no one
at all was searching, everyone still thought you were. Up 24 hours
straight! Dedication!
• Budda, my certified brat flipping assistant. We made some quality
chow for the masses, didn’t we?
• Lisa W00, my love, the owner of my heart, the master of my soul.
Just leave that punk Iverzcak. Come do running questions half awake
with me!
• Dirty Wimmer, you were my right hand girl in the middle of the
night, writing questions. It’s so much easier to keep the laughter
going with two people hysterically laughing!
• Anne (MMmm Cr0n), when I understand why you pick the card table in
the War Room to sleep under, when there are so many free beds and
quiet rooms available, I’m sure I’ll understand you! Thanks as well
for being the lead stone searcher-outer.
• Needles, nothing like the classy chevy pickup to lead us into the
parade! As well as your help assembling the float minutes before
launch!
• Pookie, oh what luscious noonies you have! Just testament to what
two bored college coeds and a free webcam can create! I think Alec
has the pics.
• Funk Masta, thanks for the injection of humor into our fading
Sunday evening! By the way, that was Sam’s bed you slept in
Saturday. Nice, Eh?
• Sammy, sorry that there was some strange guy sleeping in your bed
when you went to sleep on Saturday. The carpet upstairs was comfy
though, right?
• Pio Clan, thanks for the reunion on Friday! We even got to see lil
Stud :P Now I can say I’ve sampled biscuits and gravy. Many thanks
for your help!
DAD, I think we all owe you a special thanks for letting us have our
partee at the house. It has to be one of the most spacious basements
in Stevens Point, and located central enough for us all to easily
navigate to the radio station or the trivia stones. I know we all
don’t show you enough appreciation, and you always sacrifice a lot,
like your garage, your sleep, your kitchen, your gas, your spare
float wood, your spare garage stall to store the float in for 364
days, your grill, your beer, your dishes, your quarter ream of copy
paper, and probably most, your sanity. I’m not sure if we all
realize how much you give up, and how much you might rather not have
us around sometimes. THANK YOU!
If you see dad around town.. make sure to say thanks
There is one last point which I feel obligated to make. A few of you
might be missing some clothing from trivia weekend. Though I’m still
dumbfounded at how someone could forget their boxers at my house.
Anyways, they’ll be waiting at the homefront for a month more, and
then dad is eying them up for the rag pile. I guess GAP sweatshop
$80 shirts absorb oil pretty well. I made a small list:
• One Pair of Hanes ankle socks
• GAP ‘Jungle Bunny’ hat
• PAIR-A-DICE, ‘flamin’’ casino t-shirt, XL
• Tie-dyed Blue and fucia long sleeve t-shirt, M
• Trojan blue soiled prophylactic, L
• ‘Wisconsin’ printed, long sleeve, navy blue t-shirt, M
• GAP sleeveless black cotton shirt, XL
• ‘Joe Boxer’ boxers, plaid turquoise, shaded blue, M
• American Eagle, blue/white plaid, short sleeve shirt, L
• Nike sleeveless white t-shirt, XL
• Lucky Brand heavy t-shirt, yellow, blue letters, collar, L
Well, I have rambled just about enough for one evening, so thank you
all for your help, and if I forgot anyone, I apologize. Til next
year!
Adios