How’s that saying go? In like a lion, out like lamb? The month of March followed the adage pretty closely really. Frozen lakes, snow, and freezing temperatures have all been replaced by bare lawns, sunny days, and a little daylight savings to make the days stretch a little longer. It was a good month… and April should only get better.

March started out with a weeklong staff meeting in Madison. For those of you unfamiliar with staff meetings, they lend themselves occasionally to determining a long-term strategy for a business, getting everyone globally on the same page, help team camaraderie, etc. So… to help build that team camaraderie, there’s normally an event to get everyone together for a little friendly competition. Our event? Curling. 2nd place… Ray’s team.

Now… let’s turn the fun meter up. What do you do when your friend Model G says, “Let’s go to a basketball game… and sit really close.” You go… and sit really close. Forget west side… forget east side… go courtside. That’s right, Ellen, being as awesome as she is, invited me to come see the Celtics play the Bucks. There were plenty of Celtics fans in the house, but the hapless C’s couldn’t pull off a win. And yes, Kevin Garnett is as scary as you think he is.



The next day, it was time to go to Sweden again. I hadn’t been to Sweden since the first week of October, and a trip back was definitely due. So, I pack up my bags, head to the airport and for the first time in my life have a flight cancelled on me where I cannot get out that same day. The cause? Fog. Honestly… in like a lion… damn fog. So, I went to Barnes & Noble in the afternoon, grabbed a couple of books including Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and As I Lay Dying by ol’ Billy Faulkner. The latter there is a bit heavy, but the ‘stream of consciousness writing style makes for a good read. That said, I hopped the plane the next day to Sweden, and was in the office by 11am on Friday morning. Saturday was one of the nicest days in Sweden… the weather was a little warmer, the sun was out, March was showing is ‘lambness’, and I was in the office. That’s all good though, because you don’t fly across the Atlantic to just take the weekend off… well, unless that’s what you’re flying across the Atlantic for.

The trip to Sweden ended with some great work accomplished by the team there, and of course dinner at La Terrazza. It was time to get back to the states though, because March Madness was about to start. I was able to make it to the second round games in Milwaukee on Sunday to watch Ohio St. take down Georgia Tech in an extremely boring game, followed up by Xavier beating Pitt in what was a much more exciting game. I’m glad the second game was close, otherwise I can’t say I’d be rushing back to the NCAA tournament to watch it live. There’s something about a sports bar with multiple games on, and the face that NCAA does not serve an alcoholic beverages at its events that make me think my money is better spent at BW3’s.

As far as pilot training… I’m getting close to soloing. Which, yes, means I get to take my ‘lawnmower with wings’ Cessna 152 into the air by myself. That could be April’s project…