Wednesday Trivia at Benning St.Bar & Grill

Last Wednesday was the second time I went to Benning St. Bar and Grill for trivia night. It is a BLAST! Teams compete to answer trivia questions. There are seven rounds, each round on a different topic. Examples of topics are:

• Name the song and artist
• History
• Animations and cartoons
• Sports and games
• Name the movie from the movie poster
• And many others

I thought the animation and cartoon questions were great. And to think my parents said that watching cartoons was a waste of time. I knew they were wrong! The animation clips they asked questions about included:

• Nemo
• Bugs Bunny
• The Superfriends
• Spongebob Squarepants
• Buzz Lightyear
• Charlotte’s Web (I knew the answers to this one)

The question in the photo is:
1947-Who was the first black baseball player to play major league baseball?
I’m no sports wiz, but I did happen to know this one. Does anyone else know the answer?

While you are playing, be sure to order from the menu. Benning St has some good items to select from. Some of my favorites are:

• Jalapino and Cheddar stuffed burgers
• Benning St. Wings. be sure to try the fire sauce
• Chicken Fingers with a variety of sauces on the side.
• Buffalo chicken wrap
• Caesar salad with blackened chicken

Places to Go: The Cave at Village Pizza

Where to go in the Upper Valley?

The Cave at Village Pizza in Lebanon is an good option for casual dining and/or drinks in a sports bar atmosphere. They have been in business since 1977 and were reborn in 2003 when they added the sports bar. They have five TV’s at the bar, and three of them are wide-screen. You can count on seeing all the televised Red Sox and Patriots games.

Unlike Benning Street, the bar area is small and cozy enough so you actually have an opportunity to talk to other people. The bartenders are all friendly and will actually take the time to talk, if it’s not too busy. They have Karaoke with Toby Thursday to Saturday starting at nine for those that like to sing. Friday night seem to be the most popular Karaoke night.

I personally like the food (A little too much. Don’t go here if you are on a diet.) Some notable dishes include:

• Jack Daniels BBQ Pizza
• Village Special Pizza
• Meat Lovers Pizza
• Steak Lovers Pizza
• Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad
• Gyro Sandwich
• Onion Rings
• Curly Spicy Fries
• Bread Sticks and Marinara Sauce

Quotes from A Picture of Dorian Gray

The following are quotes from the character, Lord Henry Watton. He is one of my favorite literary characters. I don’t agree with all the viewpoints expressed in the quotes, but they they are interesting.

• The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself…”
• Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
  To get back ones youth, one merely has to repeat one’s follies.
• Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious, both are disappointed.
• When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self, and one always end by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance.
• Those who are faithful only know the trivial side of love: it is the faithless that know love’s tragedies.

A sign of the times: U.S. losing its middle-class neighborhoods

I don’t belive this is a good economic trend. It’s another sign of the growing gap between the rich and poor in this country. The large gap means it is harder for people to change their econimic and social status. The fact that americans had the opportunity to do this was one of the great things about our country.
Read the MSNBC article, U.S. losing its middle-class neighborhoods for more details.

Character is Destiny

Book Review: Character is Destiny

Stories every young person should know and every adult should remember

This is the most inspirational book I have read since The Art of Happiness by his Holiness the Dalai Lama. I actually bought this back in April when Senator Mccain was at Borders doing his book tour. So I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy.

John McCain has assembled stories about people that exemplify the best qualities we humans have like honor, purpose, strength, understanding, judgment, creativity and love. There are stories about people I am familiar with like,

• Mohandas Gandhi
• Joan of Arc
• Sir Ernest Shackleton
• Sir Winston Churchill
• Lord Horatio Nelson
• George Washington
• Abraham Lincoln
• Nelson Mandela
• Pat Tillman

There are also incredible stories of people I knew nothing about like,

• Viktor Fankl – A survivor of Nazi concentration camps that inspired many others to survive.
• Mother Antonia – An American housewife from Beverly Hills that became a nun and ministered to people in a Tijuana prison.
• Oseola McCartney – A poor laundry women that lived simply, saved money and gave most of it away ($150,000 or so) to start a college scholarship fund for the poor.
  The Four Chaplains – Four chaplains that saved the lives of others, at the cost of their own, when the troop transport Dorchester was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland by a German U-Boat.

John McCain explains in the introduction that destiny is not “some unseen hand, a mysterious alignment of stars that pulls us in a certain direction, bestowing happiness on some and misfortune of others.” He writes that it is “your character, and your character alone that will make your life happy or unhappy.” It is a very deep and astute observation that I seem to forget all too often.
The title is correct when it says these are stories that we all should learn and remember.