come back from tampa, some sun on my face, slightly lighter in the back pocket, got my green '68 ford from the paducah kentucky airport on st. patty's day & drove it home. saw the salukis losing a little at an airport 'tequiladora' - a nearby family was uni fans- but iowa, uni, so. illinois, kansas all lost in the first round, sparing me a dilemma of who to push for in the second (salukis & hawkeyes being in the same bracket).

all is well at home, my wife is frazzled, but the kids still recognize me, and i'm glad to see everyone. it's cold here. of the 1.7 mi. to school that constitutes my entire commute, about .9 of it is arena parking lot & campus roads, now closed for repair. a quiet, lonely stretch vast enough that they can blow fireworks there in summer & generally not hit anything. my obsession with the arena dates from the times i would walk in at night, to get some exercise, and its round majestic nature dominating a cool & vast stretch of asphalt would light my path. for memory's sake i stay loyal to iowa, pitt state, any place i've lived & suffered, but now i'm a saluki - though none of these teams make it far, i'll stick with the dawgs 'til the end.

tampa- a californiyish place, strip malls, dazzling water & pounding sun, a welcome break. but now, it's back to the valley.