The next morning I called up my friend, Nick Unger, who worked for the police department. He agreed to meet me at the Casbah, a glorious little dive bar a few blocks from my apartment. It opened first thing in the morning, realizing the best drunks start early. By the time he showed up I was already deep into my third drink and trying charm the bartender, Maggie, into comping my fourth. I was failing miserably as usual, but at least it was fun trying. As soon as Nick walked through the front door, I slammed my palm down on the bar top. "Tricky Nicky! Have a drink, brother!" He slid onto the bar stool beside me and smiled warmly at the bartender. "Has this low life been giving you grief, Maggie?" She grinned at him. "Only since I opened the front door." Nick winked at her and ordered a half-pint of stout. "Pansy," I scoffed and slammed the rest of my whiskey. He shook his head. "God I miss you, you mad bastard. I can't imagine why Andrea won't let you come around the house anymore." I shrugged. "I know, it's like as soon as she started squirting out brood, she suddenly gets all uptight about people starting fires in the middle of your living room." "Imagine," he said as he raised his glass of beer. I clinked my empty glass to his. "So guess who I ran into last night at Jenny's wedding?" He shrugged. "Brian Lopez." He chuckled. "No shit. How is old Double-Dip?' "Fat and sad," I replied while waving Maggie over for a refill. "And married to a smoking hottie. Well, married or engaged or whatever." Nick nodded. "I met her. They were at a Police Union dinner around the holidays. She's a butterface." I arched my eyebrow. "She had a face?" Maggie rolled her eyes while she filled my glass. Nick caught her glance. "I know, he's got no class, but what are you gonna do?" "Anyways," I continued, "she's way too hot for him, and that's not gonna end well. You just know that one of these days he's gonna come home and find her with the pool boy or some shit." Who ran into Brian Lopez? Pick the correct answer from the following options: - Nick - The speaker - Maggie - not enough information
The speaker

Thanks for the A2A Josh: Tough one to reduce to just a single incident but I'll try. I grew up in North Central Indiana, about 50 miles south of South Bend. It was common to have frequent snow accumulation in the winter and blustery, freezing temps. It seems like this was particularly true during my childhood in the 70's and 80's. My family was blue collar through and through. We lived in the heartland in a town of just a few hundred with a sawmill and an on again off again gas station as our only two businesses. My dad worked in a factory for roughly 45 years. He apparently started that job right out of high school. My mom was an incredibly hard worker and Still is to this day. She did factory work, restaurant management and everything in between. It was this Protestant work ethic that led to one of the frequent tasks that my brother and I had to do which was not fun but ultimately was a very good deed. As I said, winters were often snowy and harsh. So my mom would make my brother and me shovel driveways and sidewalks for a couple of elderly residents. We did this of course, after we did our own driveway. Some people had motorized snowblowers but we did not. Standard snow shovels were our tools. I remember us whining about the chore, wishing we could just play in the snow or get out of it altogether. I don't remember being overly conscious of the relief this provided for our elderly neighbors. I just remember that Mom would be disappointed if we didn't do a good job. Later in life I would have great appreciation for the things required of me by my parents. Factory work and summer farm jobs helped us learn the value of hard work and would set us on a road to appreciation of future job opportunities that were less taxing. I still remember hating shoveling snow. But I'm forever grateful that I did it. The author probably now feels that his mother: Pick the correct answer from the following options: - not enough information - Was very cruel in making them shovel the snow - Was too lenient with them growing up - Taught them an important lesson about hard work
Taught them an important lesson about hard work

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA North Korea and its neighbors in the region reacted with caution to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision Thursday to cancel the U.S.- North Korea nuclear summit. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement released by the North's central news agency (KCNA) that his country remains open to resolving problems with the United States "whenever and however," and offered praise for President Trump's diplomatic engagement efforts. "We had held in high regards President Trump's efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic North Korea-U.S. summit," said the vice foreign minister in a statement released Friday by KCNA. The conciliatory tone that came from Vice Foreign Minister Kim stands in sharp contrast to earlier criticisms, insults and threats made by another North Korean official that prompted Trump to cancel the June summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. On Thursday North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy" and threatened a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown" with the U.S. over comments made by Pence calling for North Korea to follow the Libya denuclearization model. The Libya model refers to the rapid and complete dismantlement of that country's nuclear program in 2003 and 2004, before the easing of any sanctions. But North Korea is acutely aware that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed by his own people a few years later, with support from a multinational military coalition that included the United States. Pyongyang has called for a more incremental process that links concessions to partial nuclear reductions and postpones complete denuclearization until its undefined security demands are met. Trump blamed the "tremendous anger and open hostility" from Pyongyang for forcing the cancelation of the summit, but many analysts say the issue was more about substance over tone and the unbridgeable gap between the two denuclearization positions. But... Who did Trump blame for his cancelling the summit with North Korea? Pick the correct answer from the following options: - Pyongyang - Kim Jong Un - Muammar Gaddafi - not enough information
Pyongyang