March to Madness

There is only one time a year when you can do this and get away with it:

Its that time of year when people all over the country take part in something they know almost nothing about and cheer for teams they don't even know the location of.  I am one of those people who gladly pretends I  know something about basketball and fills out a bracket, hoping that I get some right and look like a genius, and win a pool and get some money.  My bracket is usually a schedule of the teams I want Florida to face on their way to the eventual national championship.  This worked once and it was great, I felt smart and that I knew basketball.

This year Florida has one college player, and some high school fill-ins, leaving me in a jam.  So I filled out my bracket high seeds and prophetic cinderellas (alas, the golden slipper did not fit this year).  I usually fill out a couple of brackets on different sites to maximize my winnings.  But this year I made all my brackets different, to maximize my chance of being right.  Now I have a problem, I feel like a cheater.  One of my brackets has the final four right and is in the top 99%, but it is hollow, because the rest aren't nearly that close.  So I really can't brag about being right, because I was also wrong.  

Oh the Madness

The Promise

One of the best speeches ever, and proof that short and sweet work.

Are You a Fan of Delicious Flavor?

Let me just say that I haven't posted in awhile because I have extremely busy and tired, between my job and renovating the new house, it makes for some really long weeks.  At the same time, I have a strange urge to ramble about something, I just don't know what, maybe another day.   

This is my favorite poem (I think I am feeling random, not a rambler)

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old,
This knight so bold,
And o'er his heart a shadow,
Fell as he found,
No spot of ground,
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength,
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow;
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be,
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the mountains
Of the moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

I like it cuz it's in one of my favorite movies El Dorado (John Wayne) and its by E. A. Poe and its fun to recite.

I apologize for the lameness of this post, but in other more exciting news,  I might have a reasonably large announcement to make in a week or two (Hint: It's not a baby or anything like that).

THE BEST HOLIDAY YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF

There is a day that comes around once a year.  The date is not definite and can change from year to year, but it is usually the first week of March.  The reason most people have never heard of this holiday is that it is a holiday for a select few, I only started celebrating it 4 years ago.  Anyway that day was today.  My REI dividend came in the mail, Woohoo!  It's free money to my favorite store and they send a 20% off coupon with it, what could be better?  I think I start anticipating this day a few minutes after midnight on new year's eve.  I think I will buy this

Snow Day

Struck brightly by the winter 
when the snow falls thick and silent 
i can only hear you breathing 

i will follow a set of deep tracks 
other people all stay hidden 
as the cars rest under snow drifts 

so clearly the dark sky 
appears framed by cables 
so clearly your breath's white 
as you struggle to tell 

that the people we have become 
still lay awake hoping to hear airwaves 
say snow day 

as the day goes gray to grayer 
we don't think of all the struggle 
in our footsteps, it's behind us 

so clearly your eyes framed in the light decaying 
so quiet your words stood out when you were saying 
that people we have become 
all know there's more than the setting sun 
snow day 

we can want more 
we'll find out in the new morning 
we can want more 
we'll wait up to hear closings