Is there any month with a better name? Lots of madness is going on here right now that I need to tell you about.
First, and most importantly, the tundra is finally begin to thaw out. We had three or four straight days of sun and temperatures in the 40s. I don’t care if this is boring news to you, cause this is pretty exciting for us up here. I can actually see the grass again! Who needs to go south for spring break? I mean, spring has finally made its way here. By the way, I am not responsible for jinxing this beautiful weather if it were to all of a sudden get frigid again next week. Stranger things have happened.
Second, and nearly as important, my favorite sporting event is almost underway; the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Students and fans of the Golden Gophers are riled up as last night they defeated the favored Indiana Hoosiers with a “Laettner-esque shot” by Blake Hoffarber as the buzzer sounded. Hoffarber caught a pass from the opposite side of the court with 1.5 seconds left, turned on one foot and put up a one handed shot that went in to win! He’s already been named “The Minnetonka Miracle Worker” (he played high school ball in the neighboring suburb, where he sunk a championship-winning shot, from his butt no less, in 2005). So today the Gophers play Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament semi-finals. Very exciting stuff. This time of year is always so distracting for me, because you never know what’s going to happen in these games.
But March Madness could also apply to my schoolwork, specifically my master’s project. Two interviews down, two more scheduled, and six left to be scheduled. And oh yeah, with two months left until the whole thing needs to be done. So far the interviews have gone very well, but I need more to happen soon so I can have some time to write up the results. For now I’ve just been working on revising my introduction and methods section. My goal is to have those two pieces 99% completed before the interviews are over so that I can just focus on the last two sections in my race to the finish line. Not only that, but I received my employment information for my fellowship that begins in July, and in italics it reads, “This offer is contingent upon your completion of all MPH degree requirements.” Just a little added pressure. So in other words, I will finish this project on time, no matter what it takes. Goodbye social life and sleep in April.
Well until then I’m going to keep plugging away with some fine tournament action on in the background. Oh and before I forget again, I mistakenly excluded anything about Brett Favre’s retirement in my last blog. I think I was still in denial at the time. I was crushed, but not surprised. For us Packer fans it is a life-changing moment. I mean, the guy has started every game since I was in third grade!!! He’s by far my favorite sports figure and unless you’re a Packer fan, you truly don’t know how great he is and what he meant to the franchise. Thank goodness I’ve got plenty going on right now to deter me from dwelling on his retirement.
See you around the blog.