March Sadness

Every year in March I get into at least one NCAA bracket pool. I don't usually do that well, but this year I think I've hit a new low! I believe I am dead last in each of the pools that I'm in. Apparently my strategy of picking the Catholic universities through the sweet sixteen isn't working. It seemed pretty sensible to me, and after all, Marquette *almost* beat Stanford. However, we're down to the final four now, and I have two of the four, Memphis and Kansas. I am also one of the few people to pick Kansas to win it all. So if Memphis can beat UCLA and Kansas can beat North Carolina and then Memphis, I could make up some real ground. So let's all root for the center of the country over the coasts!

St Patrick's Day in an American "Irish" pub & Wine tasting in Livermore

St Patrick's Day at Beckett's

This week, I believe I consumed more than my annual quota of alcohol. First, it was St Patrick's Day, and a group of my colleagues and my facebook friends met at an "irish" pub in Berkeley California, Becketts. We had a great time. You can see all the photos here. Lots of alcohol was imbibed by everyone, as you can see from the photos. One of my friends, who shall remain nameless, has officially dubbed me a bad influence, since she was inebriated enough that she needed to take a taxi home. I, on the other hand, brought my own designated driver, which is a smart move, as I can barely drive when I'm sober.

Helen, Gordon, Phil and Enda

Then Easter Sunday came along and Gordon and I spent the day winetasting in Livermore with my college friends Phil & Enda. Now I hadn't seen Phil & Enda since 1982, then I connected with a mutual friend on facebook and he told me that Phil was working at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, so I got in touch and now I have college friends in the area! I am happy to say that none of us had changed a bit since college, really. So since they live in Livermore, we headed over there for brunch and then visited the Livermore wineries, which were really good. They are more low-key than the Napa wineries, which translates to them not charging you for tasting, for the most part! It was a beautiful day, Livermore tends to be warm, and in March, a 75 degree temp feels pretty good. Might not feel as good in July! Also, the owner of Bent Creek winery used to be the school principal to Phil & Enda's kids, so we had a good connection there. We hit two or three wineries, and I tasted lots of good wine. Apparently, I like port. Who knew?