Change of Season

It's transition time, from...

Winter to spring (hallelujah): in the past few days the snow is melting away, unveiling daffodils, daylilies, and other perennials that are poking through the turf. I spent some time today cleaning up dead plants from last year, while new stuff comes up from underneath. The birds are back too: I have recently seen my first robin, red-wing blackbird, grackle, super-blue bluebird, and killdeer of the year. Also, the neighbors started their maple-sap boiling operation, so the neighborhood smells like roasted marshmallows.

Eastern Standard Time to Eastern Daylight Time: it's amazing how that little change can make the whole day feel different. The girls have gone to bed late each night so far.

Pre-Spring Break to Post-Spring Break (at least for me): now I'm thinking about the back half of the semester, which will involve more exams, a math competition, conferences, a baby, planning for the summer, selling the house (maybe?), tee-ball, etc.

The worst sports time of the year to the second best (behind October's baseball playoffs and football): no single sporting event appeals simultaneously to both my mathematical and sports interests like the NCAA Tournament does - 64 teams, each with a seed, in a single-elimination tournament, and all the history of 15-seeds beating 2-seeds, no 16-seed ever beating a 1-seed. I love filling out brackets for the ESPN competition (which I'll never win), and this year I put together a couple probabilistic methods using random number generators for determing possible outcomes of the tournament, which I'll use to fill out 4 of my 5 ESPN entries (for the 5th one I'll use my gut). I can explain it at length if you're interested.