Well, sorta…
“Merrily” might be overstating just a tad, but I sure did some rolling.
First off, was the trip to Kentucky–Glasgow, Kentucky, to be specific, a trip of some seven or so hours, making good time. The high-rollers on the JAG Quiz Bowl team made the trek down to the Bluegrass State at the invitation of the Jesse Brown Small School Showcase; I went too.
We had met these folks last year at the NAQT National Small Schools competition in Chicago. Their town being named for a famous city in Scotland caused me to inquire as to whether their mascot was a Scottie dog or a highlander in a kilt. Turns out that the actual mascot really is a Scottie dog–it’s on the T-shirts and all–but the band marches in kilts (Bet they are glad they are not marching in this weather; the up-drafts would be brutal!). At least they do for home games. Apparently, other schools complained that they were distracted by flapping plaids (What DO they wear under there, anyway?), so the Scotties only wear their kilts at home events. The school colors are blue and white and they have some really great-looking graduation robes–a bright, rich blue with sleeves trimmed in plaid on white with red piping at the lower edge
Spiffy-looking.
Anyway, it was a pretty stiff competition over all, not counting the Friday night bar-style trivia questions, which were pretty-much off-the-wall stuff just for entertainment (My score was darn close to zip…zero…nada. Gotta spend more time in bars, I guess.). The real competition, on Saturday, was far-and-away tougher, as might be expected. Our stalwart two dudes finished as runners-up to a team of some ten or so members from Missouri; They–players, coaches & supporters–all wore long-sleeved , button-down shirts, in purple. We were more subtle in black & gold, but plenty smart. There were some twelve teams there, from five states and we were in the thick of the race from the start. We are just warming up for state and national challenges coming along this Spring–if Spring ever gets here.
The trip had a number of highlights, besides the competition itself: Friday’s dinner at The Acapulco, a Mexican restaurant right by the motel (which was free, by the way…Glasgow knows how to treat participants), Best taco salad I’ve had in years, all of the billboards advertising Mammoth Cave and the various distilleries in the neighborhood, not to mention the Kentucky Derby, a look at all of the Quiz Bowl banners–local, state, national–hanging in the school hallways (We have ‘em now too; take a look in our gym), the number of “adult” entertainment venues located along the freeway (Think I’ll just stay “juvenile” for awhile yet; don’t want to check any of those out), the number of attractive roadside vistas despoiled by refuse and trash, the “no-zoning” lay-out of Glasgow itself–everything all sort of higglety-pigglety every which way–with no central business district (plenty of business though), beautiful school–with, apparently, a killer vocational program…for the county, maybe? Good weather was a bonus–we missed the ice storms and such that arrived after we left and it wasn’t too bad at home either.
And a major shout out to Mark & Tiffany Rado who were the PARENTS, writ large, in charge of transportation, navigation, chaperonage and food stops for the entire expedition( with considerable input by Jack). Couldn’t have done it without them, for sure.
My other roll along was right here at home : The Great Big Home & Garden Show at the I-X Center.
The format/ arrangement of the space was different this year, so I was thrown off a little about where everything was–no coat check, lots of new sales venues. They always have at least one model home, sometimes two. Missed ’em. Don’t remember seeing any such thing. How do you miss a house? We did it. We also hit some major food items: “Frick’n Good Cookies”, “Ms Cotti” cookies (also regular biscotti), a varied assortment of snacks (just in case). Pens and brochures, flower bulbs from the Netherlanders (can’t wait to see the credit card notation of that) all made up for missing the free samples from the Vita-Mix dude. I got to try out both of the brands of massage chairs (Someday, when my “ship comes in”…as long as it’s not a leaky rowboat…I am going to get one of those suckers…although I don’t know where it’ll fit.)but I skipped the electronic weight-loss gizmo and the cleaning products( no kidding!)…also the silicon containers I bought last year which were a near-total bust. Lunch was some vaguely Asian noodle & chicken thing that we do not see at home–passable, but “nothing to write home about”…skipped the Cold Beer stop. Drive home was snowy but uneventful.
A good time was had by all, merry or not.
