My Week that Was - March 22

Photo credit Unsplash Kenny Eliason

On my way from the gym Saturday morning, I slowed to a stop at the intersection with Cross Country Road. 

 

The red light was flashing, which, if you attended driver's education or passed your driver's test, you know means stop. You treat a flashing red light as a stop sign.

 

The person driving a mini-van behind me must have been sick the day that was discussed, because as I slowed to a stop in the left-turn lane, the van's driver kept their foot on the gas like it was green.

 

It's not an isolated event. I'm seeing it happen frequently. In fact, this week there was a special focus in our county warning drivers to obey stop signs and stop lights. Last year Dane County drivers running the light or stop sign caused 269 accidents, in which 169 were injured seriously, and five were killed. Since 2020, 1,000 were injured and 17 died because a driver wasn't paying attention or felt they didn't need to follow the law.

 

Come on people, stop for red lights, flashing red lights, and stop signs; and watch out for people who don't!

 

For the second year in a row, Wisconsin lost in the B1G championship game. They put up a good fight but didn't get the ball in the basket enough times. By the time you're reading this, we'll know whether the Badgers advanced to the second round of the tournament. 

 

Sunday night after the Badgers lost, I watched the selection show where I saw Wisconsin sent west to Denver for a first round game. For the purposes of the blog, I made my picks, and went with the Florida Gators to cut down the nets April 7.

 

The idea of the bracket challenge was to include some of you with the tournament. As of Tuesday evening, no one else has signed up that I can see. I'm not sure if that's because of no interest or that you had trouble getting into the website. If you're reading this Saturday before the second round starts, I hope the four teams you have in your last four are still alive.

 

 

A brief hailstorm. 3/19/25 dwm

 Wednesday around noon the dark and gloomy rainy skies gave way to a sudden burst of marble-sized hail that covered the ground. It didn't seem large enough to do much damage and looked nice.

 

 There was a heavy downpour that lasted close to fifteen minutes, if the temperature had been ten degrees colder, we would have seen measurable snow. In the early afternoon, forecasters were still expecting snow overnight that might leave snow on the first day of spring.

 With time off work the next two days, I slept a little longer than my usual routine. Thankfully on Thursday everything was available when I wanted to use it. The expected snow was a no-snow. There was a light dusting on the grass and some stuck to cars and windshields, but that was it.

 

 The first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament started at 11 am and I was ready. In the first eight games there were technically two upsets as a number 9 seed defeated an 8 seed in an evenly matched game. In the other, McNeese State from the Southland Conference had a double-digit lead most of the game, then held on in a victory over Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference, which was expected to win.

 

I paid close attention to the Wisconsin Badgers game early in the day but before and after I signed a few dozen cards while watching the action. On Friday, after breakfast and a few errands, I jumped on the June cards right away, they were finished before the first game was over!

 

It was nice having Thursday and Friday off, with Saturday and Sunday behind them, it's a nice opportunity to relax and catch my breath. Whatever you're doing, make sure you take a break every once in a while!