Hic, Twirl, Peel, George

Couple of stories, couple of thoughts:

• When quizzes go bad

Recently M & I have picked up a habit of going to pub trivia quizzes with our mates Mark, Tanya and Dani. Tanya is queen of trashy telly, Dani is clued up on sports and the rest of us chip in more generally, although I get hopelessly confused on Aussie stuff of course. Anyway, we've tried various pubs and they all follow a similar format: 40 questions, 3 hard questions for a big jackpot and some bonus stuff thrown in. We're a pretty mediocre team all told, but for some reason we do very well on any bonus questions that involve an alcoholic prize. On average we win maybe 2 bottles of wine and a jug of beer. Given that 2 team members will be driving on a given night, you can imagine the consequences for the remaining 3. Hic.

• iPod dangers

I'm usually first in to work every morning at around 7.30 am, which means I set up the computers and so on while I'm there on my own. Having an iPod, I'm generally listening to a random selection of music as I do so. I must've had a spring in my step this morning cos I found myself doing the twirly indie dance when "What Difference Does It Make?" came on. Lots of fun and quite energising, at least until I span round and saw my colleague Noeline looking at me in a strange way.

• Teenage dreams, so hard to beat

John Peel: bummer.

• Countdown to Recount 2004

Please please please let Kerry win on Tuesday. I can't face the alternatives; 4 more years of the arch-crim or an interminable legal wrangle inevitably resulting in...4 more years of the arch-crim. Here we go, In God We Trust.

By the way, the only sensible US election stuff I've read is Sydney Blumenthal in The Guardian or, obviously, The Onion. "That's it. I'm voting for the candidate who would flip-flop on sending my son to die, rather than the one who'd do it without hesitation."