What do I know?

When it comes to NCAA basketball, the answer to the above question is "Not much". Michigan State has made it to the Final Four and I had them picked to be upset in the first round. I'm doing so bad in the pool that my 9 year old is beating me.
Although I didn't predict it, it is good to see two Big Ten teams in the Final Four. However, I still believe it will be North Carolina over Illinois in the final.
With college basketball almost done it will soon be time for the NBA playoffs to start. That's going to be a lot of fun. More upset potential than even the NCAA's.
Finally, I added a link to one of my favorite sites, Astronomy Photo of the Day. A very cool site that has photos taken by the Hubble telescope, the Mars Rovers, as well as land based photos of the stars. They also have an archive of old photos.

Bumper Sticker of the day: Vegetarian –- Old Indian word for bad hunter

NCAA Basketball Tournament

Time to talk sports. College basketball to be specific. This is a great time of year for the hoop fan. The NCAA tournament starts Thursday. No disrespect to the "play-in" game tonight or the women's tournament intended. But the big daddy is the men's tournament. 64 schools hoping to get hot and win 6 games in a row. There will be drama, there will be upsets, there will be more announcer histrionics then anyone should be made to bear. But in the end it's always fun.
Here are a few of my predictions. North Carolina over Illinois in the final. Upset special, #12 Old Dominion over #5 Michigan State. And my 9 year old says watch out for Gonzaga.
More later...

Thought for today: Life is too short to drink light beer or eat cheap ice cream.

Music review

Let me tell you about a band I first heard on National Public Radio just before Christmas 2004.
Laliya is unique musical group playing an array of instruments I'm not sure have ever been played together before this. James Maquire and Melissa McCarthy live in Australia. He plays an Appalachian dulcimer and Australian didgeridoo at the same time. She plays an African djembe drum. The two musicians and three instrument blend perfectly to create a one of a kind sound.
After hearing them on NPR I started trying to find a CD. I tried the big box stores, the local record shops and several on-line outlets. No one had even heard of these guys. Eventually I found their web site, www.laliya.com. They have music clips on the site and an email address. So I emailed to find out where I could buy their CD's. Melissa responded and said there was one on-line place in Australia that had it, and they only used PayPal. So I ordered "just Like River", their latest CD. When it arrived 3 weeks later the return shipping address label was personally signed by Melissa. Laliya performs live in Europe and Australia. I would love to see them come to the states. Check out their web site for a taste of something really wonderful.

Today's thought: If Columbus had turned back no one would have blamed him, no one would have remembered him either. -Lance Smith

The first photo from "The Barn Project". More to come. 

Starting things off

Tonight I join the vast network of mostly unpaid, mostly unread, psuedo-journalists.
Whether this new blog will last a fortnight or if anyone I'm not related to actually reads it, only time will tell.
The idea of publishing my ideas in an electronic form is interesting. I have been writing for almost 40 years. The large majority lately has been for business purposes. The creative stuff ends up as never to be seen again bits on my lap-top's hard drive. Perhaps now I have an outlet.

Closing comment: Only those who attempt the ridiculous will acheive the spectacular. - Willie Jolley