Hello All! As usual I have waited until almost too late to write the
newsletter, but it wouldn’t be trivia without trying to fit its tasks in between
school and work. :-) The trivia countdown clock on the %motherland%/trivia/
page shows 10 days and 20 hours to go! I can’t believe tax day is that close
already! Perhaps I’ll even file my return on the 14th to allow enough time to
prepare for trivia! Oh, the great stretches I’ll go for this great competition!
So first thing I noticed when I returned home for spring break was mail from
90fm sitting in my bedroom at dad’s. I opened it up and found our award from
last year for being in 95th place. More interestingly though was a flyer that
allowed our team to run an ad in the trivia times on a full page for $100.
Unfortunately, the deadline for this opportunity was several days before I even
got the letter. Oh well. It would be sorta cool though, Norwigan Studs
Represent!!
For those of you who are wondering, I did clear it with my father, we have a
green light to locate the trivia operations center again at Dad’s “plover villa.”
Same rules, same game of course. A few notes on what is going to happen this
year.
First, Steve and I are going home this weekend, Easter weekend, to construct
the float. Anyone who wishes to help build the new float this year, just stop on
by Dad’s back garage on Saturday, I know Dan will be there too. I’m not exactly
sure what it is going to be this year… hopefully I can think up something better
than a Viking ship by this weekend! Alec doesn’t have any problem coming up with
ideas, but when it comes to building or financing… he doesn’t bring much to the
table! :P OH! A note on that too… I think that there aren’t going to be any
team shirts this year, unless of course someone can really lean on Alec and
convince him to pony up a bunch of cash. We’ll see what happens when trivia
Friday rolls around.
Secondly, Wayne (Alec) and I will be arriving in Point on Thursday evening.
So we’ll only have Friday morning to get things organized (and paint the float
:P). I imagine that Ivy and Dan will be around perhaps before then to set up
StudsNOC. Word on the street is there are going to be several switches and
access points this year to connect the PCs to. Alec informed me that last year
not everyone that want a port was allowed access by his majesty, Ivy (editor's
note: not true). I don’t remember that though.. probably because I was busy
trying to take ERIMMA :) . Alec also told me he has this grand idea for how to
set up the tables so there is no great valley of death, where the cat5 cables
lay, and so we can fit more computers in the room (as if we possibly needed more
heat producing locked pcs?!). And without a doubt, someone will run a heavy gauge
extension cord across the house to a different electrical circuit and let it lay
idle with just an unpowered monitor plugged into it! Caution: Engineers at
work.
If everything goes to plan, we may be able to go grocery shopping before the
whole event even starts! As usual, anyone with special requests can file a form
4229 and turn the appropriate number of tricks, and we’ll make sure to have that
cheese pizza ready for the eating! I was considering some adjustments to the
usual diet again… something to sort of replace the soda. If anyone has any
suggestions, I would enjoy hearing them. Naturally we’ll purchase enough brats
and buns to go all around at 3am, and I’m pretty sure we can expect something
chili related on Sunday. Everyone seems to enjoy eating subs on Saturday, so
perhaps we’ll get a party sub, or something to that effect. I was also
considering starting a new tradition this year. How about a Monday morning, post
trivia breakfast wrapup? It would draw the weekend to a close with eggs and
hash. Could you imagine anything better Ivy?
Since our team does have to register in less than a week, it would be a good
idea to decide on a name. There are the names in the forum, the most popular of
which is Norwigan Studs: Rekindle the flame, or a good derivate, Norwigan Studs
Rekindling the Flame. My favorite, but undoubtedly the underdog and least
politically correct is Norwigan Studs: Rar Tany Rar Rar Rar. I guess we can’t
always get what we want. ErikR did however send me some new suggestions that
have never before been seen by the public. They are: Norwigan Studs: Give me
some sugar (suga) baby and Norwigan Studs: We play long and hard. :) I just
had a revelation too! My own suggestion… Norwigan Studs: We Serve Brothas!
85Omni. To Recap:
Norwigan Studs Rekinling the flame Norwigan Studs: Rar Tany Rar Rar Rar
Norwigan Studs: Give me some suga baby Norwigan Studs: We play long and hard
Norwigan Studs: We serve brothas Norwigan STDs: We play long and hard ;)
Anyhow, we’ll have a chance to have a committee meeting to formally decide the
team name this weekend and Perkins. And when we don’t say a single word about it
there, we can discuss it at Dads.
I was thinking, and I think this is the real year to put the green chalkboard
to use for something besides an out of date team score. I was thinking of sign
ups for time slots again. 4 hour intervals, and 3 or 4 people at each of them.
Last year worked out well again from the Sunday AM AM team, but it seemed it
dwindled down in the late morning to a point where hardly anyone was playing. Of
course, people can play whenever they way, I just think it will help everyone
plan out their time, so they know when they can cook under a blanket in the
corner directly next to the space heater, and when they should try and be up to
play :). It will also be a good way for people to sign up for running questions /
trivia stone hunts. It will be nice to get those 300 points that knocked us back
like 20 places last year!
I had this other crazy idea this year too. What if we had like.. a football
and baseball, and when people are feeling all antsy in their pantsies, they can
go outside and move. I know, Tany wouldn’t approve, but sometimes you just gotta
get the blood movin. The dark of the basement and whirr of the fans can
sometimes get people in a trance, and desiring change.
Team registration this year is $30 like usual, and going from years past, a
donation of at least $20 will be nice from all key players, especially those that
take advantage of the foodstuffs. If you are there for the 3am brats, you can
probably qualify to make a contribution ;) I’ll bet this year will be another
honor system year, which is fine because everyone is very honorable! I’ll
probably put up a sign with a pot to just be a nice reminder to people. Usually,
I would list an email address where you might be able to contact those
responsible for the expensive admission to the trivia team, but this year I
haven’t. Mostly because it seems we are getting older and the money flows a
little easier. The other reason, of course, is that the dnet / algenta email
servers don’t accept mail to random boxes like
Idontwantalargefarva@dragonmount.net anymore!
Well, I think I have covered most of everything. Meaple has informed me he
has purchased two cases of balz this year, instead of one. I’ve never really had
them, but apparently they keep you awake better than a two dollar pistol. Wayne
(Steve) is going to bring Raygor down for the contest this year and expose him to
the whole-hearted goodness that is trivia. As is our social group custom, I
extend a defacto invite out to everyone that may be reading this, but was not
implicitly invited so far. That means you Chris in Edina!
Now the countdown clock says 10 days, 16 hours until trivia 2004. Put the
pedal to the metal! It is gonna be here before you can even say boo! So have a
pleasant evening, and I’ll see you all soon!
With Warmest Wishes, I am
Sincerely Yours,
Ben Adams adam0068@umn.edu
