What's warm here is chilly elsewhere -- 2-6-2012

I was on the phone Monday with a very pleasant woman named April. For a call to a dreaded call center (Direct TV, for the record), it was quite enjoyable. In the course of our call, she inquired about our weather. I first asked where she was from, and she told me that she was from Florida. I laughed and replied that it was really nice and warm for us, it was 40 degrees! She shuddered and exclaimed, "That's freezing!"

I relate this to remind you to keep some perspective in life. Such as...

Our Learn Some Shit winners with, well, I won't tell you how many points they had, but it wasn't very many -- here's The Fluffernutters or Sticky Elbows or Cancellation Fees.

Does it really matter how many points you score if you're having a good time, drinking good beer and eating good food? I submit that it does not. Besides, this group got o $10 gift card to Half Price Books! Pretty good consolation prize, don't you think?

After breaking a tie (and using two tiebreakers to do it, a fact that aggrieved me to no end), in third place, with 43 points, here's Xtreme Grape.

This group are refugees from another Monday night quiz, and I won't let on which one. They told me before we started that they always finished 3rd, and, verily, their prophesy came to pass. I hope you enjoyed your time here enough to come back and climb the ladder all the way to first!

The team that broke the tie in their favor and finished second with 43 points is Just the Bear.

A very uninspired team name this week, but who am I to judge? Perspective, people. A very good job by both the runners-up this week.

In first place, with a remarkable 49 points, here's Just the Tip, Just to See How it Feels!

These folks shed their mounting frustration and exploded in a veritable... let's just say that they did really well this week. Sometimes you get nothing but curveballs and changeups and sometimes you get 86 mph fastballs all day. I guess I was throwing batting practice to them -- but even in batting practice, you still have to get your wood on the ball! Great job.

We'll see you next week!

40 degrees in January!?! 1-30-2012

We had a nice turnout for our quiz tonight, mixed in with quite a few Timberwolves fans. Now if we can only get the Wolves fans to start playing trivia, we night have something! Good crowd all around. 

With 20 points, here's our weekly Learn Some Shit winner, (good for a $10 Half Price Book gift card), Sweet Marie.

Look, they tried our new bruschetta!

Actually these two are pretty smart, but they wiffed on the sound round, so maybe they should use their gift card to buy a compilation CD or something. It's their first time on the quiz as a team, but no slack is cut when awarding the coveted LSS.

In third place tonight, with 42 points, is the juggernaut known as Just the Tip, Just to See How it Feels.

They had more of their rotating cast of characters come out tonight, and were rewarded with a $10 gift card, but they would like more. I have no doubt that they'll get more, their knowledge is pretty deep.

In second place, one point ahead at 43 points, here's Can't Text Jesus...

I got one of them with their eyes closed. Oops. I refuse to get into a theological debate, but if you could text Jesus, would things be different? This is the second gift card that this group has won in three weeks, so as the cliche goes, they are butter.

In first place, with 44 points, is Double Dutch Runners!

I am disappointed that they didn't break out any ropes to celebrate. It also looks like that a couple of people who usually join this group were absent. That's okay, since I'm fairly certain that the rest of the winning crew won't bring it up next time. I won't either... maybe.

See you next week! Maybe it will be 40 degrees in February.

Fun times in Uptown 1-23-2012

Nice turnout on a decent January night -- the iffy roads didn't scare too many people from coming into Uptown. A fun quiz, too, complete with double entendres! Some high scores, proving that people are smarter than they look.

First, here's our first winners of the coveted Trivia Mafia Learn Some Shit Award. With a whopping 14 points, I give you Power Ranger.

I feel kind of bad for these two, because I don't think they were really paying attention all the time, but, hey, those are the breaks. They were quick to tell me that they are both in school, pursuing advanced degrees, but the only degree that counts on quiz night is one in nearly useless facts. Sorry. ladies. Don't take it the wrong way.

Losing out on a tiebreaker, in third place with 43 points, here's Sound Round Sucks.

Ironically, they did very well on the sound round, getting 9 out of 10 possible points. They just wanted to express some sort of distaste, because that's the kind of team they are. I kid. This group possesses true grit, and has been competing weekly for at least a couple of years. I admire that kind of loyalty.

The winners of the tiebreaker are the merry band known as Gutcheck.

My camera was running short on battery power by this time, I think, so this is not exactly a stellar shot. Gotta love the fairly crazed look on the right, though. My kind of quizgoer! They were short-handed tonight, yet still managed a good finish. Will too many cooks spoil the soup?

In first place tonight, with 45 points, here's YouTube Tops!

My camera was really crapping out by now, so this looks worse than a shot from my phone, 3 phones ago. No matter. This group climbed the mountain and waylaid all in their path. Or something. Congrats!

We'll be here next week. Will you? If not, why not?

We're Back! 1-16-2012

We debuted the new (to us) format for our quix last night, and I thought it went well. There was a bit of eye-rolling at one of the categories, but that was a category that I really enjoyed. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I am very annoyed that I didn't think of it myself. I needed a little bit of tweaking to get proper volume on the sound round, and people didn't do that well on it (in fact, one team name was named "Sound Round Sucks"), but it was fun, and a good addition to our weekly mix.

In third place, breaking a tie at 36 points, here are our old friends, Just the Tip, Just to See How it Feels.

They were shorthanded tonight, and they blamed that for their poor showing in the image round. Whiners.

We had a tie at 40 points for first and second place, and the second place team is Just the Geddy Lee. Yeah, I don't get it either.

They were happy with their spot, but if they had only known about the IOQ...? First place, baby!

Speaking of first place, here's a loyal group with a new name for the new year, Bring Back the Bear! Again, I don't get it.

It's good to be back on the blog, and I promise to be funnier next week. Until then...

It's been awhile!

From the looks of things, you would think that the Uptown Green Mill had fallen into a sinkhole, or that the (mostly) weekly quiz had gone into a long hiatus, or some combination of the two.

Not true.

I've just been too lazy to update every week, bu that will change next week, as the format will change. That's right, we're going all-in with Trivia Mafia ath the Uptown store! We really liked our automomy, but writing a quiz every week is too much of a chore, so this is the result. We're really looking forward to it, and I hope that you will join us. For further updates, you can follow us on Twitter -- @greenmilluptown -- or like us on Facebook -- www.facebook.com/greenmilluptown.

Monday, January 16! Join us!