March Madness

1. Had an unbelievably turbulent flight to the islands a couple of weeks ago. 3 of the 5 1/2 hours were spent huckabucking through the atmosphere as the plane was tossed around like a tin can being kicked down the street. Did I start moving my lips in prayer? No, but as the minutes turned to hours I began to mentally list all of the things I had put off and wished I had done before I f**king sat down in seat 27B. Stressed and craving a cigarette (passengers were tossing back mini bottles of booze like it was going to be their last drink on the face of the planet), I tried to watch the in-flight movie, 'Secretariat.' Which was good, but concentration was at a premium. When we landed in Honolulu, it was overcast and storm clouds filled the horizon. But who cared? It was a relief to be on land again, even if it was an island.

2. I arrived back in Cali, on the day of the 8.9 quake in Japan. I thought of all the Japanese tourists who love to visit Hawaii and who were now stranded indefinitely away from their loved ones. My flight was one of the last to leave the islands. While I was unpacking that night, my brother called to tell me they were on tsunami alert. A friend's son in Osaka is making an early exit back to state side; this is catastrophic devastation on many many levels.

3. California has 2 nuclear power plants: one in San Luis Obispo, and the other in San Onofre.
California is also the mother lode of fault lines. Deep food for thought.

4. Who in the USA is working today? How many workers across the nation called in 'sick?' Because of the added pressure of 4 play-in games (greedy bastards) which start Tuesday, everyone is scrambling to complete brackets without the luxury of 4 days to info surf. If you, bosshog, think that your employee is deep into the analytics of the state budget, think again. Seed numbers and match ups, yes! Sweet 16, and Final Four possibilities. Uh-huh. Under dogs and chokers (Pitt). When all the crying (there's a ton of crying in the tournament) stops, standing all alone at center court, ready to cut down the nets on April 4th...the Rock Chalk Jayhawks, Kansas, who can make amends for the Northern Iowa debacle last year. Big East? And Big 10? Over rated.