The Madness of March Begins

If you don't like college basketball, you may want to take a short break from reading this blog because I love the March Madness of college basketball and my entries may include my highs and lows as I follow the games to the crowning of the NCAA champion. Just to get things off to a wild and crazy start, SU played in that marathon game on Thursday night into Friday morning, as they beat UConn, one of the top ranked teams in the country. I did not watch the whole game, a move I regret now, because it was a game that would have justified a tired day at school. I did stay up and watch SU play last night, but that win only required one overtime period, instead of the 6 it took to beat UConn. SU plays for the Big East Championship tonight and we will watch on the computer.

Last night we went to another RIT hockey game and they are now in the playoffs. Last night's game was the first game in the best of 3 series against Holy Cross and RIT lost. They play again tonight and if they win, the third game will be on Sunday night. In our contiuing search for our favorite seats at the Ritter Arena on the RIT campus, we sat to the right of the "home" goal,  in the first row of seats, next to the glass. These were good seats, but most of the goals happened at the other end of the rink. Here are a couple of photos from last night's game.

These spirit sticks were being given away at the hockey game, so we got our pair and maybe will get to use them if there is a game on Sunday night.


Going to the hockey game was a last minute decision as was our activity today: to attend a 6 hour defensive driving course, to reduce our auto insurance costs. We had a quite a chuckle as we drove out of our driveway, on our way to the defensive driving course, and could only see out of a small defrosted part of the windshield! The class was worthwhile as both Jim and I learned a couple of things and were reminded of things we already knew, but maybe had not thought about in awhile. The course was taught by a retired Rochester Police officer and he had some interesting stories to share. This class was held at Aquinas Institute, a school that I have never visited so we got a chance to walk the halls on our breaks and explore their new sports complex, built with Wegmans money. I was intrigued by this sign on the fence by the stadium.
While at the driving class, I got a fair amount of knitting done on the baby blanket project. I noticed that the teacher for whom this blanket is intended, is looking very pregnant, so I'm feeling a bit of pressure to get it done. I haven't heard about a baby shower for her yet, but I'm sure it will be happening in the near future.  I also got some spinning done this afternoon, as I continue to experiment to find the best way to spin this one particular fiber for the pattern that I have in mind. 

So I guess that is all for now.

Hope all is well and GO 'CUSE!

This and That

First, Tucker is back in the USA. And he told me not to worry about him~he says he feels more threatened driving in Denver than he ever did in Mexico! He had a great trip and shared some wonderful adventure stories, with promises of some photos for this blog! 

Second, Corey went back to SU today and who can blame him! Jim and I go to work all day and Corey's high school friends are not home for spring break this week, so his days were not real exciting. But back at school he can hang with his teammates and make his own fun. So, Corey it was good to see you for a few days and we were glad you could be here for Bob's party.

Speaking of Bob's party, I wanted to show you a picture of the gift I made for Bob. A little history first. For many years, whenever we went on a canoe trip with Bob and family, Bob wore this red and blue striped swimsuit, 24/7! We watched it fade over the years, but it was an apparent favorite of Bob's so it showed up in our photos for years. Then one day Sally dropped off a big bag of clothes that we were donating to a school group and there on the top of the pile, were the striped shorts. Well, after Sally left, we took those shorts out of the bag, knowing that someday we'd be glad to have them. We didn't know when or for what use, but we knew that there would come a time when we could use those shorts. Well, the time came with Bob's 60th birthday! I got a journal type book and covered it with some of the fabric from the shorts. I put the back pocket zipper on the back of the journal, to hold a pen or pencil and I used the waist belt as a carry handle along the spine of the book.  On the inside of the front cover we included a photo of Bob wearing the swim shorts  on one of our canoe trips. I think he liked the book and seemed pleasantly surprised to see that his shorts lived on!!! See the photo below.

I've been volunteering at the hospital gift shop for the past 3 Monday nights and my trainer has declared that I am now ready to go solo. Right now I am going to be working the evening shift for two Thursdays a month. Here are a couple of photos of the gift shop. 

I guess that is all for now. 

Hope all is well.