March 13, 2017.
Weather sucks. In the mid-thirties for the high temp.. My “early garden” is probably toast. Fuck me.
But it will all be good. Nothing ventured…and all that. 5 bucks of seeds and i’m back in business.
I’m gonna go cover my garden as soon as I post this. I repeat: Fuck Me!

March 13, every-year.
My half birthday. One of my favorite holidays, even if it is a scam. At least Hallmark hasn’t made a card for it…but more than a few “half-birthday cards” have been sent and received.
Sometimes there are presents.
3/13/17 I got music and bubbly from my playmate. Perfect.
Thank you Shelly Drymon.
Thank you Paula Rudloff for the scam holiday.

The second Monday in March, every year.
NCAA brackets everywhere you look.
I get my annual copy of USA Today.
A tradition since my first march madness b-ball pool back in 1983. I was in my first year at Arthur Andersen. King Mitchell ran the pool that year. For the next 6 years I was the driving force. That first year, only about a dozen people played. My last year had just under a grand in prize money.
That year there was also the ten buck a head “bidding bracket”…my favorite march madness pool ever.
Those were the days.

March 13, 2017
There were newspaper racks back in the day. They’re basically extinct anymore, at least in Springfield, MO.
No racks holding a mac-paper theses days, so I took the 7 minute walk to Barnes&Noble . Called Dad as I walked and we chatted hoops for a little bit as I headed over to spend 2 bucks on a USA Today.

-=-=-=-=
December 3, 2012
Bucket list? I liked the movie LOTS more than the critics, if you believe Rotten Tomatoes.
Impulse purchases are a rarity for me. But today I picked up a copy of “My Ultimate Bucket List” from the bargain bid at 44% of suggested retail price.
No author. They include 300 activities. The user can have 100 of their own. I’ve never really been a “bucket list” person, but for some reason buying this book today felt right as a half-birthday present to myself.

Later I’ll spin through the book, but for now I’m gonna copy and paste a few e-mails from 1,561 days ago. I have excised a few lines. (Shelly and I had only known each other a little while at the time…there was tad bit of wishfulness in the last couple of items on my wish list, from a very personal perspective…if you get my drift. Those activities are not included in the copy and paste below.)

From: Shelly Drymon <>
To: “steve_weiss <>
Sent: Monday, December 3, 2012 1:06 PM
Subject: Bucket List

I ran two miles out and then did a two mile walk/run back. Its windy but nice.
When we were on the porch last night and you asked me about my bucket list, I don’t remember asking about yours. Do you have one?

From: Steve Weiss <>
To: Shelly Drymon <>
Sent: Monday, December 3, 2012 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: Bucket List

i don’t really have a bucket list….i can be happy doing pretty mundane, simple things….but here are a few things that i think would be fun:

See Saturday Night Live in person
See The Daily Show in person
Ride in a Hot air balloon
Ride in a helicopter
Ride in a bi-plane
Ride in a fighter jet
Zipline
Be weightless
Go to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame
Ride the coasters at Cedar Point
Go Ice fishing
Take a road trip thru the lower 48
Attend the Rose Bowl when OSU plays
NYC at Christmas
Go to the top of the Empire State Bldg
Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty
See concerts at Red Rocks
Visit Cuba
Attend a UNC-Duke basketball game at Cameron
Attend a Louisville-UK basketball game in Lexington
Attend a Yankee-Red Sox game at Fenway
Attend a Cardinal-Cubs game at Wrigley
See the Rolling Stones at a small venue
See Jackson Browne anywhere

From: Shelly Drymon <>
To: Steve Weiss <>
Sent: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: Bucket List

Wow that’s quite a list!
I have checked the ones I would love to do as well! I am thinking we need to get busy! LOL

-=-==–=-=

Shelly checked 11 of my 24 items. We have done 3 of them, and will do a fourth on July 9th when we see The Avett Brothers at Red Rocks. That will be on another roadtrip. The 12th item on our list is happening a lot.

But she was right in her last comment: we need to get busy. (BTW, I have been able to successfully cross off the “excised items”…which causes me to smile and smile again.)

But even before I put on some music, I unfollowed all my “news feeds” on Facebook. I need a short break.

I didn’t unfollow any of my friends.

I have never been a fan of resolutions, but I’m making some “Valentine’s week pledges” today. I’m gonna do my damnedest to follow through on them for a minimum of one week.

1. I’m limiting my time on Facebook to 15 minutes in the morning and fifteen more in the evening.
2. I’m gonna use the stop watch on my phone to make sure that I abide by the limit.
3. I won’t be launching any of the political items that my friends share on FB.
4. I didn’t unsubscribe to any of the items that hit my e-mail inbox….but I won’t be reading them.
5. I’m gonna spend more time reading the 8 magazines that I subscribe to.
6. I’m gonna write more in my journal.

I just need an online break. A short break….for now….

So if you are one of my FB friends, I may still give your post a “like” but I won’t be commenting on any political items for at least the next 7 days.
-=-==

Last March I wrote a piece rooting for Villanova in the NCAA tournament. I really did want the Wildcats to win it all….but what I really liked was the idea of “brotherly love.”

The piece was really a commentary on politics in America. I didn’t think it could get worse. But it did. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

I still believe that Love trumps hate, and that: “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”

I still believe that we need more of the Beatitudes and less of Leviticus. More “red letters” and less bluster.

I need a short break….I just need to sail away for awhile.

But it’s March Madness for the next three weeks, and I don’t see anything on JamBase that’s gonna require me to wrestle with a hoops vs tunes decision anytime soon….

Get the ball in the air. Let the fun begin!
-=-=-=-=
City of Brotherly Love? My best friend from my days in Cape Girardeau has lived in Philadelphia for a long time. It’s always great to see Don, no matter where we are when our paths cross. Several times that has been in Philly, where he serves as the ultimate tour guide and host. Good times with a dear friend in a great city…it doesn’t get much better than that.
-=-=-=-=
The Beatitudes? The meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers…and more and more….
-=-=-=-=
I was one of the early adopters of NCAA bracket contests. There are a couple of stories I could tell about NCAA tournaments in the past, and maybe I’ll write some of them down over the next three weeks while I’m glued to the tube, avoiding commercials and anything remotely political, and flipping between games hour after hour.

This particular post will be short as I need to pour thru USA Today’s bonus section, surf the net a bit, and pull my brackets together. Of course I’m excited that my Oregon State Beavers made the tournament for the first time in Caroline’s life…she was born 5/30/91. It has been far too long since my team made the tournament…

I can even be excited that the quackers from Eugene, Orygun got a #1 seed. But I’m rooting for them to lose their second game, when they most likley will play Saint Joseph’s, which is from Philadelphia.

I’m hoping that Villanova, another of the Philly Big 5, takes the trophy back to the City of Brotherly Love on April 4. I like Jay Wright’s team, and have since I saw them several times when they came to Tampa to play USF…but the key for me this tournament is where the Wildcats call home, and what that city represents.
-=-=-=
Lots of people aren’t happy, or even worse, they’re angry. I get it. But there is too much noise about building walls, carpet bombing, that “torture works,” and that we need to “take out their families.” I can’t guarantee it, but I’m pretty sure that none of these are WWJD to improve the living conditions of Americans.

And when I thought it couldn’t get worse, there were these:

“Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK, just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”

“I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya.”

Really??
-=-=-=
We need more of the Beatitudes and less of Leviticus. More “red letters” and less bluster.

So I’m gonna pull for teams from the City of Brotherly Love in this year’s NCAA tournament. And for more people who want to build bridges to the future rather than build walls, drop bombs, waterboard…and worse, including helping the rich get richer while the middle class vanishes.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”—Henry James
-=-=-=

And this:

Go Beavers!