Contrarian views

So its Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, right? Just one-quarter Irish, me, but its nevertheless an occasion to wear orange instead of green, for no other reason than to see if anyone is paying enough attention to be offended by it.

I also woke up this morning to find that the Wildcats have already been sent home from the NCAA Tournament, thus happily ending the out-of-control March Madness hype I'd otherwise have had to endure here in Tucson.

I've got my bike lights going on the chargers right now, though I did it reluctantly. The Old Pueblo has been heating up a bit - 95 degrees yesterday afternoon - and I'm finding it difficult to accept that prime riding time has already shifted into the night hours. In fact, it may be so difficult to accept that I skip the riding and instead drink the Arrogant Bastard a coworker gave me in exchange for some dog-sitting. Or perhaps I should do both, having missed out on the riding-while-impaired scene at this year's 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.

The El Bike Swap de Tucson is about two weeks away. I don't really have a burning need for anything, which is good, because I blew just about my whole recreational equipment budget on a spotting scope, tripod, and another couple of ornithology books. I was saving up for a sussy fork for my singlespeed but spring is birding time, and I wanted a way to pull distant birds into view and count them for my seen-at-home life list. Speaking of which, I'm gonna' head outside and see if I can find and ID that warbler that was singing this morning. Its a yellow or a Lucy's - either would be the first of spring.

Evening update: No, of course I didn't go for a night ride. I spent my outdoor time watering my front yard. Its xeriscaped, but it still needs at least some water.