Thought for the Day: The Memery Company
March 27, 2006

First things first:
OK, thanks Joe, since you caught the fact that I violated my own no blogging on a weekend policy by forward dating my blog entry, I suppose I will have to make it up to myself somehow. So I will follow your memery.

The meme is this: "Recount a one-line anecdote for each state you have visited [and then demand that others do the same]."



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

AZ: Drove through it late at night during the thousand miles in a day Colorado to Vegas run in '03.
CA: Won the 1997 Jeopardy! College Tournament here, did not perform as well in subsequent visits.
CO: Nearly accidentally blew up a gas station with a lighter at elevation.
DE: Spent one of the worst nights in a hotel in my life here in 2005. I still hate you Delaware.
DC: Wandered around for four hours last year after Mark and Brigid's wedding in a vein attempt to glean some history knowledge on a Sunday.
FL: Lost 1999 CBI National Championship on final question in a best of three series against Chicago.
GA: Attended the wedding of two of my favorite human beings in the world, all while attempting to relay a Braves' playoff score to the bride.
IL: Saw a U2 concert at the United Center, lost shoes at Gino's East, recovered them a month later while in town for the HSNCT.
IN: Spent time utterly confused by the Indiana Toll Road signs.
IA: I know I've been to Iowa, and I'm going back, but anything I did there is a blur of unmemorable.
KS: Several visits to my grandparents back in the day.
KY: I've driven through Kentucky many a time back in the day on my way to TrashMasters in Chattanooga and I remember we always chuckled at the sign for Big Bone Lick State Park.
LA: Ran my first Division II without having a near meltdown in 2005, I mean, it was close, but it's better than it ever way.
ME: At clam chowder at a restaurant just over the border of Mike's and my mad dash to pick it up before the 2000 ICT at BU.
MD: Played in BC3 at UMBC and then used Jon Rosenthal's mad situational ethics to jump the line at ESPNZone at the Inner Harbor.
MA: Won TRASHionals 2003 at Boston U on a question about a young Jim Tressel shagging balls for Lou Groza thus proving the maxim "Know thy enemy, young man."
MI: Got pulled over for doing 88 in a 70 on my way to 1998 NAQT SCT at Western Michigan/
MN: Bought my Joey Harrington jersey at the Mall of America approximately three hours ahead of Noel doing the same thing on a completely separate trip.
MO: Announced standings and placements for the 2001 NAQT ICT Division II from a balcony style window at WUStL.
NE: Nothing interesting has ever happened to anyone in Nebraska, not even the Druid offering at Carhenge.
NV: Discovered that watching The Matrix Reloaded in IMAX didn't make it any better.
NH: Drove through on way to previously discussed clam chowder stop in Maine. Finished drink I had brought with me to complete "I've visited it if I have had something to eat or drink there."
NJ: Visited Princeton during my younger days as a soccer brother while my sister was playing in JAGS.
NM: Drank half a Dr Pepper on the New Mexico part of Four Corners.
NY: Got lost in the Iron Triangle, aka Little Guadalajara, on my way to a Mets game in 2005.
NC: Rode in a Ryder rental truck with Peter Freeman and Dwight Kidder that pretty much held every collegiate buzzer system in the country in the back of it during the 2002 ICT.
ND: Coming soon...2006...
OH: Has spent the last six years in a systematic attempt to kill me.
OK: Darted into Oklahoma while on a trip to my dad's alma mater at Pittsburg State University of Kansas.
PA: Had a real Philly Cheesesteak during one of my many Penn Bowl trips.
RI: Attended the 2000 NCAA Frozen Four in Providence.
SC: Realized that holding the HSNCT inside a hotel's convention area definitely feels like it has some advantages.
SD: Drove across the state, nearly, sort of, kind of, ran out of gas in the Badlands.
TN: Watching Dwight get off the TrashMasters schneid by answering "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" to clinch the match play victory for our team's first TrashMasters win.
TX: Visited the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.
UT: Realized just how few exits exist on the Interstate in Utah.
VA: Attended the wedding of two of my other favorite people in the world last April, after all, how many people can you say you met on Jeopardy!, let alone have them eventually get married to one another.
WA: Went to the Experience Music Project in Seattle, found it odd just how much space was devoted to the Replacements in a museum nominally about Seattle's music history, but also realized that I really didn't mind.
WV: Saw the OVG, yeah you know me, play at the Wheeling Civic Center and realized that it has beautiful WPA style murals in its concourses.
WI: Attended a Brewers game and proceeded to get shelled by fireworks in the Dells area.
WY: Paid the least for gas that I can recall paying this decade during the jaunt through Wyoming.

And while I'm at it:

British Columbia: Checked out the BC Hall of Parliament on Vancouver Island in Victoria.
Ontario: Went on Spring Break in High School, to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Quebec: Watched DEK eat 13 meats at one meal, he had a Q on his hat.

Germany: Bought a Soviet soldiers hat in Berlin in 1994.
England: Had an unproductive layover in Heathrow where I bought an Oxford sweatshirt that was too small for me because I didn't realize that XL does not always mean XL.
Ireland: Got to see the GPO on O'Connell Street as well as John Sheahan's Butcher Shop in Kilarney.

That's all for today, until next time,
I am Craig Barker, I've been 80% of everywhere, sort of.