Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Typically I write a Pub Quiz, and then write a newsletter, reflecting on what sort of pub quiz topics might warrant a mention in the weekly missive. This week, because of changes here in the city of Davis, I am writing a newsletter for a pub quiz that I will be performing live tomorrow in an actual pub.
I will ask for your patience during this transition. The beloved Patreon subscribers who have been sustaining the pub quiz during the Great Lockdown on 2020 and 2021 will receive their print and perhaps audio and video quizzes on Tuesday night or even Wednesday morning instead of on Mondays, as locals have grown used to over the last dozen years.
De Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis opened up in the fall of 2012 and has provided a classy and exuberant home for the Pub Quizzes that I’ve hosted every week since October of that year. The March 2020 suspension of the Pub Quiz came quickly, as it did for everything else in our lives.
I myself have both enjoyed changes in my life, and endured them. Since that day 500 days ago, I’ve walked almost 3000 miles, most of that with my son, Jukie. I’ve also talked to Truman about his screenplay ideas and about his crossword puzzles, watched a bunch of Hitchcock movies rented from Bizarro World, and even played some games of Dungeons and Dragons in person (with my kids) and online (with university colleagues). As someone who meditates regularly, I elected to play a monk.
During those 500 days, I have written many poems, more weekly essays like this one, even more emails, and even more comments on student articles submitted to remotely-taught journalism classes. During those 500 days I have eaten probably more than 200 burritos, and zero Dr. Andy Salads at my favorite pub. With the exception of an occasional glass of wine with my wife Kate, I’ve also largely stopped drinking alcohol. This has helped me lose a few pounds, but my friends working at the pub have also lost out. Regrettably, I’ve tipped de Vere’s staff about $4000 less over the last 500 days than I had over the previous 500 days.
Although during those 500 days I’ve spent almost zero hours waiting in line or in traffic, I’ve spent about 350 hours in Zoom meetings. During those 500 days I’ve read or listened to more than 75 books, and consumed probably all or part of more than 500 podcasts. During those 500 days, I’ve hosted about the same number of poetry readings that I typically do, and attended to almost as many as I usually do, most of those from my phone while walking with Jukie. Thanks to KDVS airing reruns of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, I’ve hosted zero new radio shows over the last 500 days, while having hosted more than 1000 radio shows over the previous 20 years.
Now the microphone calls me. I’ve enjoyed being differently busy over the last 500 days, but coming this Tuesday night at 7 at de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis, I will be returning to a bit of normalcy. On Tuesday, July 27th, I will be returning to in-person hosting of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz. Maybe you will join me.
Some things about the Pub Quiz will have changed. We will meet on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. If you serve on the Davis City Council (Hello, Vice-Mayor Frerichs!), you will have an excuse, but otherwise, I hope the new day at the regular time of 7 PM will work for you. As Tuesdays have just been added to the pub schedule, the staff at de Vere’s is opening the place up for us just for us. Although I will be taking a pay cut (as the rest of the pub staff had to do over this last year), the gift-card and swag prizes for Pub Quiz winners will be the same. Like many bars and restaurants, our pub will offer no “happy hour.” I am just grateful that the de Vere White brothers could reopen our pub open during a time when so many other restaurants and retail shops have closed for good.
So please bring your vaccinated self to the Pub tomorrow, and subscribe to the Pub Quiz if you can’t join us in person. It’ll be fun to see if, after 500 days, the quiet and contemplative version of Dr. Andy can still remember the script.
I will send the hints and a reminder tomorrow, after I have written the Quiz.
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are four questions from a March, 2019 Pub Quiz:
- Famous Ships. What was the name of Ernest Shackleton’s ship which became stuck in Antarctic ice in 1915?
- Pioneers in the mass production of tires. In what year was the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founded? Was it 1880, 1900, 1920, or 1940?
- Science. A Tarantula Hawk is which of the following: A bird, a military jet, or a wasp?
- Unusual Words. What monosyllabic G verb means “to obtain something, especially money, illicitly”?
P.P.S. With the Delta variant sickening more and more people in Yolo County, locals still need your support. Please support the Yolo Food Bank.