Final Four! and Superstitions

The Wisconsin Badgers are in the Final Four!

Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers and Bo Ryan for earning a trip to the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four next weekend in Arlington, Texas!

It's pretty good being a sports fan in Wisconsin.  I enjoy it.  Most of the major Wisconsin Badger sports programs have enjoyed consistent success for some time now, about two decades actually, to bring respect to the university and teams.  The Green Bay Packers have been pretty good for a while now.  The Brewers have a wonderful stadium and game day experience, and on the field they are always trying.  They have issues but it could be worse, at lease they made the playoffs a few years ago.  And as for the beloved Milwaukee Bucks, well, bless their heart. ;-)

I've become aware that when I post something about  a game, like 'Go Badgers', in a post it never usually turns out well.  That's gotta be my OCD.  I rationally realize that nothing I write here, nothing I wear during the game, nothing I habitually have to do every game because I'm afraid to break a streak, none of that matters to the outcome at all.  Get over myself.

I'm far from alone.  You don't have to be OCD like me to have sports traditions, or more aptly, superstitions.  I'm not as attached to mine as I used to be, obviously since I'm writing this now the night my team punched their ticket to the Final Four.  But I do have them still, but they have changed, lessened, actually, the last few years.  For all Badger Men's Basketball and Badger and Packer football games I still always have to wear my gear.  Team t-shirt, hat, sweatshirt/pants, jersey, or all of them plus more you don't want to hear about.  And I do have little rituals still, but not like I used to.  There used to be candles, statues, flags, straws and even a gnome!  Wait, I still use the Packer Gnome.

Okay, I still have my game day superstitions and rituals, but at least I know that none of them can really affect the outcome of a game on TV.  They only make me feel like I helped maybe by doing something.  Or worse, hurt the team because I forgot something, say, put the flag out.  I hate it when that happens.

Go Badgers, really, grab that national championship!

Last Monday For A Long Time

I didn't check it out for myself but I believe it.  For a long, long time.   Baseball season is just waaay too long.  But pretty soon baseball will be all a sports fan has besides, well, golf or racing - and there are arguments on just how those two things equate as a 'sport' to baseball, basketball, football and hockey.  Oh well, any one of them - baseball, golf or racing - would certainly help when I want a weekend afternoon nap!   Okay, I'm kidding, but just a little, go Brewers!

via Bits and Pieces!

Red Green - Yes, Dear

Just Say Nothing below, more here.

Spring 2014

Today is the first day of spring.  I took this picture yesterday, and today all that fresh stuff was gone but we still have the bigger piles left.  After tomorrow our highs are below freezing for at least the next several days, except maybe 33ºF on Monday, with snow in the forecast next week yet.  Yeah, happy spring.

Weather has been a major topic on my site for some time now.  I'll have to try and get away from that.  We all have gripes about our weather sometimes but that doesn't mean you want to keep hearing about it, right?

Happy St Patrick's Day 2014

50 Degrees, 4 Seasons

A few weekends ago I went to the store in the morning, like I usually do, mostly Saturday morning because it is double coupon day.  When I got home my wife asked me what it was like outside.  I don't know, I said, probably 25ºF or so.  She got out her phone and looked it up, it was 2 - Two degrees!  I had gotten so used to cold by then I was that far off.  Today is in the mid 20's and I'm freezing outside!  I'm starting to have to think about the temperature every day.  Do I warm up the car or not?  Which jacket and how many layers do I have to wear?  Snow?.. Again!?

We've had just a few days above freezing recently and my internal, um, thermometer, I guess, is thrown out of whack again.  I swear, if it ever hits fifty degrees and sunny it will feel like summer.  That's what happens to people in Wisconsin in spring.  And also why we wear shorts when people in California or similar think they're freezing to death.  Perspective.

50 degrees - about 10ºC - to me, in Wisconsin.

• Summer:  Fifty degrees?  Never as a high, and only as an overnight low maybe early or late in the season.  And then it would be a great night for a fire pit in the back yard!
• Fall:  Fifty degrees goes from an overnight low to a high temp for the day, when you start appreciating those warm days of summer weather that may still show up now and again, if your lucky.
• Winter:  Fifty Degrees?!  Yeah, right.  Below zero wind chill factor sometimes.  You got about 6 months in Wisconsin, give or take, between normal 50 degree days otherwise, so you goddamn better get used to it.
• Spring:  Fifty degrees would be reason to rejoice.  Shed those jackets and sport the shorts!  At least until the reality that it isn't quite summer yet sinks in.  It is pretty entertaining to watch the occasional 'tough guy' who refuses to admit he's chilly.  Still, fifty means we can open the windows on a nice sunny day to air out the winter stir-craziness.

Yeah, still haven't seen 50º yet....  but hopeful.  We should get close a couple times this week.

S & BJ Day

Probably NSFW!

This And Thats

When we got back from Alabama I wrote a post every day for a week.  Since then I just haven't felt like writing much of anything.  I feel I need to write something, but the mood hasn't really hit me yet so we'll just have to see what comes out...

• I ordered my new glasses yesterday.  I've had trouble reading the newspaper for a while now so I was due.  The frames I picked out were only a hundred bucks, but the lenses I got were mighty expensive.  Oh well, it's something that I'll wear almost every waking moment every single day.
• I glossed over it, but we had a really good time with friends last Saturday night.  My wife puts a lot of work into cooking, cleaning and decorating for these things, but she enjoys it greatly.  I try to help where I can but staying out of her way is usually the most help to her.
• The weather has finally seemed to turn toward spring.  We have gotten above freezing once or twice in the last couple days with more on the way, so they say.  I'm still not convinced that we haven't gone into a new ice age and won't believe otherwise until I can sit outside in a t-shirt comfortably.  I kept my chin up about the lingering winter for quite a while but have finally succumbed to the exasperation everyone else has had for months.
• Which reminds me of the word snirt.  The term coined for the mounds of dirty black snow and dirt by the sides of the road as melting begins.  The ugly part of thawing out.
• Work continues to take up my life all week.  I'm still on mandatory overtime and will be for at least this whole month.  Probably the biggest reason I have been neglecting this space somewhat.  I've put in for a little time off this next quarter, I hope it gets approved.

I've been stuck at this point in writing for a while now, so I guess I'm done.  Good cheers to all and go Badgers!

Happy Mardi Gras

We had a Mardi Gras themed party with friends last night. My wife again put out a great spread of food, here is the king cake from a local baker.

Sorry, just not in the mood for writing today but I wanted to post this.  Terry got the baby.

In Like A-Lyin'...

It is only a few days from the beginning of March and we are much below the 'average' temperatures for this time of year.  Tonight's low is -11ºF with wind chills of up to -30ºF tomorrow morning.  I guess I'll have to warm up the car tomorrow - wait - I've been warming up the car every morning for months on end now, this is supposed to stop happening, right?

In fact, 11º is the highest we'll see until Sunday, they say.  And why not throw in some snow?  Not a big storm, just a little here and a little there for days on end.  After all, a fresh layer of snow covers all that dirty melting stuff and makes everything beautiful.  Right?

Okay, I'm starting to lose my patience with winter.  That's all I got.


If you want more, watch this short video about the water on our planet. It's worth the while!