It's the most wonderful time of the year

It is the season of joy, the one time of year when the NCAA doesn’t get it all completely upside down and backwards. The men’s basketball tournament starts on Thursday, providing ten days of upsets and thrillers. Over the coming weeks you will hear drastically inflated statistics that claim trillions of dollars in lost productivity at work, and formerly unknown college students will become heroes and household names (see Curry, Stephen, and Drew, Bryce) as the field of 64 is winnowed down to a single, undisputed champ. I invite all of you to test your skills against my own on espn.com’s Tournament Challenge. I have created a group that is available for anyone who is interested named I’ve got a fever. The password is cowbell. And I encourage you to all to participate, even those who know absolutely nothing about basketball. It is often you who win these things. Trust me, knowledge is of minimal assistance.



As you probably remember, Alixa has spent much of this week trying to recover from her near death experience last weekend. It has been a long and painful process, but she is almost back to normal. The only real nagging issue is a persistent cough that she hasn’t quite been able to shake. So she decided to take it easy this week, giving away all her shifts at the Olive Garden. She made an effort to go easy at her other job as well. In fact, on Wednesday she came home and informed Jarom that she did nothing but play minesweeper and spider solitaire all day long. Oh, Microsoft games, where would corporate America be without you? You should all be proud of her though, as she has decreased her time on expert from about 1000 seconds to 384. We are crossing our fingers that she will be able to turn pro soon.



Last week I began a new feature, albeit without informing any of you. The working title for this game is the polygraph game. It involves me placing a factual slip somewhere in the entry. Last week, I incorrectly labeled dolphins as fish. Annie was the first and possibly only person to catch my mistake, and thus is the inaugural winner. There may or may not be prizes for this, but at least you will know that you are the smartest and/or earliest reader if you win. Best of luck to you all, in this game and with your brackets!