So now we have a final four, and none of my picks made it. Not unusual. Maybe someone interesting (Gonzaga, South Carolina, or Oregon) will win it though, instead of UNC. Yeah, sure. Same ol’.

I have returned from ORS. Unlike last time I went (in 2010), this time I was alone. A little bit of an adventure in getting there, too. I had a flight out of Fort Wayne on Saturday which would get me to San Diego in plenty of time to check in and get to the kickoff meetings. However, the flight out of Fort Wayne was seriously delayed. They kept pushing the takeoff time back and back again, then announced that the flight was in fact cancelled. And then before I could make other arrangements they un-cancelled the flight but promoted it to very very delayed. So then I waited around for another while before they decided that it was in fact going to be cancelled after all. They offered to put people up in a hotel in FW overnight and get us on another flight in the morning but I elected to go home instead and go back to the airport again. So we did a Take 2 in the morning, and this time the flight departed on time and I arrived just a day late to San Diego. Too late for the opening but I didn't really care all that much. New experience for me...I caught an Uber from the airport to the hotel. The driver was not the chatty type, I don't think he spoke for the entire ride. But it was handy not having to rent a car. I got a hotel within easy walking distance of the convention center, in the famed (I guess) Gaslight District, which seems pretty touristy. The convention center itself is right next to the waterfront; easy walking distance to the USS Midway museum, and I could see one of the carriers in port across the water. Anyway, once I got checked in I went to check out the convention, but it didn't seem like much was going on. So I went on a walkabout near in the blocks around the hotel and did some urban geocaching, then just hung out in the hotel room for the most part. Found a good burger place nearby. In the morning I headed back over to the convention and got all checked in, and spent to morning attending various lectures on topics that were as relevant as I could find. Nobody cares much about poly any more, it seems. I stood by my poster for an hour, not that many people stopped by to check it out. When I got bored with ORS I went for walks outside by the waterfront or the blocks nearby and did some more urban caching. Same deal for Tuesday. Lectures, caching. I did get lunch with a fellow ZB person and an FDA man (in a navy uniform) during a break. Things wrapped up on Wednesday, early for me since really not much of interest to me was going on. So I got yet even more caching done, early enough in the waterfront shopping district that there were still not many people around. All in all I found 15 caches around the convention center in San Diego. And I will say that San Diego is a very nice city from what I saw and I think I could live there. I had an afternoon flight home, but the hotel let me keep my bags at the front desk until I was ready to go so I had some time to catch a tour of the Midway before leaving. The ship has been decommissioned for years but walking aboard it still had that Navy smell. The smell took me right back. The Truman smelled like it and the Midway smelled just the same. I remember it well. Anyway, I did a grand tour of the ship and then picked up my luggage and caught an Uber to the airport. No problems with the flight home.

This weekend Alex had his real birthday party; the video game overnighter. This is what he likes to do, so we go ahead with it and the girls bug out. He had about half a dozen friends come over Friday night after school, and had Little Caesar's and chips and such, cake and ice cream, and played video games until the cows literally came home. The girls all left town and stayed overnight at the Blue Gate Garden Inn in Shipshewana (although they told us later that they close everything in town by around 7:00 pm, so it was kinda lame). I stayed home to supervise, such as it is. I let the boys play their games pretty much as long as they wanted to, eventually I just went to bed and told them to take care of themselves and not make too much noise and go to bed eventually. Which they did. It was a quiet day afterwards.

Happy 14th birthday to Alex! Yesterday we had a pre-birthday celebration, going to Fort Wayne for his chosen dinner (Flat Top Grill) and activity (Laser Tag). He wanted to do laser tag so we found a place in town (easier than paintball, which was also in consideration). The place was really fun, but kind of claustrophobic, and pretty stuffy. They also have video games for the in-between parts (we went twice) but not enough for as crowded as it was. But anyway, it was fun as long as you didn't have some kid follow you around everywhere just shooting you over and over, like the girls seemed to. And some kids definitely have done it enough times to have a strategy, working together and taking the high ground early on. We were not at that level.
Also it is selection Sunday. Here is my Final Four, in order: 2 Arizona, 3 UCLA, 2 Duke, 1 Kansas. Although I have a feeling I’d do better if I just went straight chalk. Usually do.