Brackets, Diets, Roll-overs and Idolatry

I have again taken over a week off from my blogging, but when the most exciting thing to happen to me in a weeks' time is a tie between making both of my free throws in my game last week and the connection of my XBox Live membership, then you can see why I have kept silent.

The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament started an hour and a half ago, and I am, as usual, in a handful of money pools. If the form I have shown over the past two years holds true, then I will be eliminated from contention for all of them before 3:30pm today. In each of the past two years, I have lost one of my Elite 8 in the first game of the tournament (the Thursday 12:20pm start time game). This year's first handful of games will again let me know where I stand right away. The 12:20pm game only affects me through to the Sweet 16, and Wichita St. is currently winning. However, my National Champion (Boston College) is tied at halftime against a team it is favored to beat by 8.5 points. From now on I am picking all of my Champs from the last batch of games on Friday night, so I can at least hold on to some hope for that long.

The diet is going okay. I no longer cry during pizza commercials, so that is an improvement. I've been counting points a la weight watchers for two weeks, and I have lost right around 10 pounds. I am hovering at that mark however, so I am looking to tonight's basketball game to give me another nudge in the right direction.

We had been a little worried about The Man Zachary's lack of rolling over, but within the last week he has gone from rollover rookie to rollover machine. You can't stop The Man Zachary, you can only hope to cotnain him. His first tooth broke through the other day, and there are more coming. I am bracing myself for some long nights in the weeks ahead...

I am still watching American Idol like it is my job, although I lunched on Tuesday night and allowed Halo 2 online to distract me long enough that I did not vote this week. I am of the school of thought that dictates the following: if you are not going to participate in a process that dictates an outcome, then you should not EVER complain about said outcome. This applies to life, sports, professional decision-making, elections and of course, American Idol. Yes, I vote. If I didn't have a wife and son, and ex-girlfriends to vouch for me, I'd openly wonder if this made me gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you. This week, I wasn't impressed with most of the performances. I really like Kathryn - she and Mandisa are the best singers. I totally wish I looked like Ace. I am not a country music guy in any way, but I like Bucky - even though he looked like a cocker spaniel (Kim's words - can;t take credit for that one). The young kid Kevin seems like a nice enough guy but he does nto have a pop star voice. Every time he sings I keep expecting the Munchkins to launch into "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" or "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead". What makes him more annoying to me is that he gives Simon attitude. He might be a chach, but he is the only person on that show that has any clue as to what they are talking about. Kevin strongly resembles the animated movie character "Chicken Little". To quote my boss from yesterday's discussion, "I can't stand that little @#$%. It's time for that Chicken Little mu#$%&&*$%er to GO". True indeed. Ok, my biggest paragraph on the first day of March Madness is about American Idol. This can't be good. The only thing that gives me some optimism about this development is that yesterday - my boss, the sales manager, the purchasing guy and myself were "outted" by the receptionist after she overheard the four of us talking about Idol. So, at least I am not alone.

[Currently Listening: Madness - "You'll Lose a Good Thing"]