Friday Fatigue

Today was a challenge at work. Not because of the usual kid challenges, but because of the fact that I got less than 5 hours of sleep last night. Jim and I (along with Bob and Sally) attended the NCAA East Regional Sweet Sixteen play-off games in Syracuse. The first game was between West Virginia and Washington. West Virginia won fairly easily in a sloppy game. But that game took a backseat to the Cornell vs. Kentucky late game (10:05 tip-off). Cornell, a 12th seed, had a definite home court advantage over number one seed Kentucky. We watched the Carrier Dome steadily become a sea of red as more and more Cornell fans filled the stands. By 10 o'clock the crowd was on their feet and cheering wildly for the underdogs. And Cornell fought a good game but came up a bit short when the final buzzer sounded. It was awesome to be in that arena and feel the love that the Cornell faithful had for their team. And who doesn't love to cheer for the underdog. It was a great night at the NCAA games.

However, I didn't get home until after 2 AM, and was in bed by 2:30. I had the alarm set for 7:40, but the phone woke me up at 7:12, so it was a really short night.

Jim stayed the night in Syracuse, in Corey's apartment, last night after the games because he was catching a ride from there to Boston for the National Masters Indoor Track Meet this weekend. I heard from him late this afternoon, saying that he took 3rd place in the 3000, which is pretty good since he hasn't been able to train quite the way he would have wanted to in recent weeks. He still has to run the mile and the 800 later this weekend.

The Syracuse team lost last night in a messy game. I'm glad I was not watching it at home. So it has been a good run for the Orange, just ended a bit sooner than we would have liked.

Tomorrow morning I am going with Sherri to a Young Life fundraiser called Baskets and Brunch. There are about 100 baskets filled with a variety of stuff that get raffled off. Last year the only thing I won was a beautiful necklace that I won in a silent auction because I made sure I was the last one to bid on it! Hopefully this year I will win a basket! Sherri has had good luck with winning the baskets.

Tomorrow night I will go back to Syracuse to see the Elite Eight game between Kentucky and West Virginia. I will cheer for Kentucky because they are about the only team I still have in my 2 brackets! GrandDad is going with me because Jim is in Boston.

Our seats are as high up in the Carrier Dome as possible! We are in row T, and as the usher told Jim, T stands for "Top!" Actually the seats have some advantages. First there is a foot-wide shelf behind the seats to put coats, food and drinks on. No one is dumping beverages on you in their excitement and you can stand up anytime you want without bothering anyone behind you! Here are a couple of photos from last night:

You may be able to see how much red there was in the Carrier Dome last night.

I am falling asleep at the keyboard here so I am going to bed.

Hope all is well.