Science Bowl!!!

So A Team's record through the qualifying rounds was 3-1-1; we tied with Monte Vista and lost to Santa Theresa. Santa Theresa's only win was against us though, which was... interesting. Foothill beat us 4-0-1 in our bracket (their one loss was against us). But we moved on to quarterfinals? semifinals? where we sort of got owned by Monta Vista. Not completely though - the end score was something like 74-114. But in any case, it was pretty awesome. I played a total of 1 1/2 rounds (since technically I'm only an alternate) but I got to get some questions right! It was fun. =] They had yummy Costco muffins and Costco pizza too; it made me happy. =P

I had opportunities to make random quips too. We have to introduce ourselves whenever we begin a round, so one moderator asked us to add, in addition to our name, some random fact about ourselves, so I told them that I spin rifles. It sounds much cooler than just saying, "I'm in Colorguard," especially since there are many deprived people in this world who don't know what that is. Another moderator asked what our favorite sports team is (a lot of people said they don't have one - what do you expect, we're nerd!), so I just went, "Marching Band is a sport, right?"

I left early with Zach; the rest of the people (excepting Erin and Natasha, who also left early) stayed to watch another round after we got eliminated. They apparently went ice-skating after, which sort of makes me sad, since I wanted to go, but it wouldn't have been a good idea, on account of the still-bleeding cut on my ankle (you'd think it would have stopped bleeding after a full day!).

We all went to Melanie's after though, she had yummy food. =] Cocktail shrimp, lots of fruit, sandwiches, chips, and cookies! We watched a bit of Schoolhouse Rock, then played some Rock Band. =D

It was a really fun day. Competing is stressful though... Ah well. It's still awesome. =P Hopefully I'll be on A Team (as in actually on it, not just an alternate) so I can stress myself out! =D

*****

Epic fails of the day...

Simplify [sqrt(19) + sqrt(5)][sqrt(19) - sqrt(5)]
Zach: 19 - 5
You mean 14...?

Sally (or whatever) brings 3 shirt, 2 pants, and 2 pairs of shoes (not sure about the items of clothing) on a trip. How many possible outfits can Sally make?
Tommy: 24
He apparently did 3*2*2*2... Same with the 2+2+5+2 from practice, except with multiplication... xP

The equation y - 4 = 3x intersects the y-axis at which point?
Tommy: (0, -4)
Whoops. Wrong sign. =[

A human somatic cell has how many pairs of homologous chromosomes?
Boozer: 23
So this isn't a fail exactly, but sex chromosomes aren't homologous...

DDT was banned for its destructive effect on which type of animal? (I forget the exact wording...)
Monta Vista dude: Tuna?
It was birds, especially birds of prey. The DDT would make the eggshells of their eggs super thin, so when they tried to brood them, they'd essentially just be crushed by the mother's weight. This wasn't too much of a fail either, but tuna? Really?

I'm sure there were a few more, but I love how we know all this random knowledge (like the three types of magma and their range of temperatures!) yet we screw up on simple math or just blank out... xD