I was in Santa Clause mode once I got to Buffalo Wild Wings–at least in everything except trivia.

There was a group of seven teens from Smithville, a small town north of Kansas City in northeastern Clay County, who sat at the booth to my left while I was playing trivia. I decided to give each of them one of my many $5 discount tickets. They were very excited. I think I made some new friends.

Smithville is home to a beautiful lake and a visitor center named after Jerry Litton, a U.S. Representative who died in a tragic 1976 plane crash in Chillicothe after winning the Democratic nomination for one of Missouri’s United States Senate seats. Litton was thought to be Missouri’s brightest political star at the time, and some thought of him as a potential presidential candidate.

Just now, I went and picked up Lisa a pretzel from Quik Trip, much the way I did for Liz last Monday. I also got Liz and Brittany Davidson pretzels from Pretzelmaker in Zona Rosa Tuesday. Of course, Lisa loved it. I was happy to do it for her, because she has been a very good friend to me.

I wasn’t having any of the generosity in trivia, however. I had a great comeback in Countdown at 9 p.m., rallying from as many as 2,050 points down to down two guys from St. Joseph who were playing together. There’s few better feelings than overcoming a deficit, especially when people are teaming up.

And how about this? The Brewers lead the Dodgers 3-1 going into the 7th–and that’s with Clayton Kershaw on the mound.

I nearly forgot today is the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death. He died on August 16, 1977 at his Graceland estate in Memphis. The official cause of death was a massive heart attack, but he had many other healthy problems brought on by drugs and obesity. According to many of his closest associates, his favorite meal was fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

Today was the halfway point of August. Now the fun begins.