My Buddy

I lost a dear friend of 14 years this morning, my cat Sammy, my nighttime TV buddy, my sleep-on-my-legs-until-they-went-numb big ol' cat, as gentle a soul as you'd ever meet (and a bunch of you have met him over the years), shy but friendly, and loyal to the point of being a guard cat. He had been in failing health, lost a lot of weight, was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and pancreatitis and anemia, and was unfortunately not particularly well cared for by the hospital we took him to, but we'll be taking care of that, don't worry.
Woke up with him this morning, after a couple of pretty frail days, and he was awake and looking at me, and then he just left, right then and there. Pretty startling moment, very quiet and calm, 8 am on the dot. Don't know why I noticed that, but I did.

Always called him my buddy, and that's what he'll always be.

Down In Flames

I promised myself this year that I would low-key my March Madness brackets activity, and for the most part, I have.  I've entered 9 different bracket challenges this, contest with all sorts of prizes and awards. But after Thursday's and Friday's stunning upsets, there isn't going to me that much to talk about.

My brackets are in ruins.

But so are most of America's. Who would have EVER picked Harvard to upset New Mexico so stunningly? Or Wichita State to stomp all over Pittsburgh? Ole Miss taking out Wisconsin? Or Florida Gulf Coast University blowing the doors off Georgetown?  C'mon now. Nobody saw these coming.

So enjoy the Cinderellas and the Big Boys and see who's gonna topple another basketball icon.  You know they'll be a few more. You just know it.

As for me, I'm gonn na sxee how Far Temple and Lasalle can take themselves this year. I've got a good feeling about Lasalle. Even though I picked them to lose from the beginning.