All Things Being Equal

"England defeats United States 2-1; USA: first loss to England since 1988.

ESPN crawl - 3:10 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, April 2, 2011

It's almost time for Butler vs. VCU - the first of two Final Four semifinal games. We were hoping it would be Butler vs. Kansas, even though we rooted for the Indiana Cinderella to defeat Duke in the championship game last year. It's hard to think of Butler as a Cinderella this year, into the Final Four for the second consecutive year. And, VCU just gets stronger with each new group of pundit-naysayers declaring that they can't possibly beat whoever they're playing next.

Caution persists now among those same talking heads, as I've heard all week that it's hard to pick against VCU, based on their five consecutive wins in a tournament they weren't good enough to make; and their dismantling of Kansas, the only number one-seeded team remaining until last Sunday. I'm not sure how much credit to give VCU, as the jaw-dropping upsets of a Bill Self-coached Kansas team at tournament time are well-known by now, having been chronicled in When Pigs Fly. (Insert smiley face here.)

I could say that we're used to it. But, frankly, you never get used to losing like that. It's likely all the more stunning because Kansas frequently fields a very competitive team and tallies so many wins through a season, they look like they can't be stopped. I won't dismiss VCU by saying that Kansas beat themselves last weekend; but, it sure felt like that at times. Their senior (usually sharp) three-point shooters were cold as ice. It was ugly early and felt like a loss by the middle of the first half. We watched to the bitter end, because that's what we do. For either the USC Trojans in football or the Kansas Jayhawks in basketball, we believe that it's not over until it's over.

Well, it was and is truly over; and, that means that I mostly hang up the Mrs. Jayhawk mantle for another few months. Today, I'm a Butler Bulldog. I know that logic would suggest that I root for the team that knocked out my team. But, I don't have an emotional investment in VCU and continue to subscribe to the sentiment that they can't stay hot forever. By the time you read this post, we'll know for a certainty. My father is from Indiana; and, Mark's mother's family is from Indianapolis. So, we don't need to find our True North to know who to support when things get tough. It's a no-brainer.

Speaking of brains, it's multiple-birthday month in the Dickerson household. Mark kicks it off every year by conveniently having his birthday fall on the first day. That's right - he's an April Fools' baby.

I've known him almost 43 years; and I got the story straight just this week. I had been telling everyone that his father had told friends that the baby was due on April 1; and, that, if actually born on that day - regardless of gender - he planned to name the baby "April."

Wrong.

I don't know if the story has changed or I wasn't listening or I was listening too fast. The real story (now) is that his parents were able to choose the date of his birth and deliberately chose April 1. His father's naming story - as apparently recounted from the pulpit throughout Mark's formative years - was that he would name the baby "April" if it was a girl and "Fool" if it was a boy.

Well, the joke was on him. Mark was brilliant. He is also one of the most brilliant males of the human race I've ever known. That's why he's Mr. CRD. Well, one of the reasons. (Insert winking smiley face here.)

A bunch of other birthdays will come and go in our family and among friends before month's end. Easter is late this year; so, we'll have more than our fair share of opportunities to eat sweet things. It's probably a good thing that we get most of this kind of thing out of the way relatively early in the year.

I was sifting through a stack of greeting cards I've saved over the years and found a preponderance of flying pig and pig-related graphics. I suppose I could be known for other, more substantive things and pithy sayings, but the "When Pigs Fly" moniker fits and sticks.

Good thing, too. I have a few personal projects that I feel would be improved by flight. A couple of them feel like a 250-pound hog in a pink tutu. All I need is some wings for those porkers, and off I'll go.

The piano needs to be tuned. I can't do that myself; but, I could make the phone call. That sucker is going to sit there as just another large piece of furniture to be dusted if I don't get on it soon. I sat down to it last night and almost fell off the bench when I realized how bad it's become over the past few months. I'm a phone call away from making that pig fly. It should not be so hard to do. But, when will I both be in town and at home to have this task completed?

It's not looking good during birthday month. May? Maybe.

I have purchased a few of those little sample bottles of paint that are now so readily available (where were they hiding before they were so readily available?). I don't do large-scale projects myself. But, I have a couple of spaces that I can easily do myself. I just need to do it. Well, I just need to decide on colors. THEN, I just need to do it.

Why are these decisions so hard? I used to work in homebuilding, for crying out loud. I had no problem deciding what to paint a model home owned by someone else. But, I also have a file folder full of ideas that I've accumulated since we moved into the house in 2002. I have a self-inflicted case of the "Tyranny of Indecision." A subject for another post on another day.

This paint pig has the "I'm fixin' to start" problem. All I really need to do is just make a choice.

Without the distraction of college basketball, I should do what I do best: focus, choose, do.

Maybe I'll take a look at that paint folder during the Butler game. Although, it's a really tight contest here at 4:51 to go in the first half.

I should probably go through my e-mails and find the name of that piano tuner I was going to call just before Christmas...

...momentum seems to be swinging back to Butler.

...what time does the other national semi-final game start?

...pigs lined up like jets at O'Hare....

...this little piggy ate roast beef...

...what are we going to eat tonight...

...I should really get the clothes out of the dryer and fold them at halftime...

...where's Dr. Jayhawk?