Matt Holthe's Fleeting Thoughts

Last September I posted about a trip to Great Wolf Lodge . We ended up going back there for a few days over spring break. We were able to complete MagiQuest (finally defeated the dragon and the goblin) and went through most of ShadowQuest (the next phase). I don't know if ShadowQuest was easier because we knew more than when we started or because it was actually easier, but we were able to finish most of that game when there were things on MagiQuest we struggled with. You can always go back and re-do some of the past adventures, but I don't know if we'll do that or not. Again, the trip was good. The water parks were crowded, but not overly so. We were able to spend enough time in there. We ate one dinner at High Rock Cafe and would certainly go back - that was delicious. So we now have Mac's (highly recommended) and of course Moosejaw Pizza and Buffalo Phil's and Pizza Pub . There's a few others we would like to try on a return trip, which I'm assuming...

I don't think it's ever happened before, but my national champion prediction lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Michigan State lost to Middle Tennessee St in the first round. The bracket is divided into two halves every year. My left half is almost perfect - 15 out of 16 in the first round, then 8 out of 8 in the second round. As for the right half, I got 12 out of 16 in the first round (pretty good), and then only 3 out of 8 in the second round. The sweet 16 starts tonight. Obviously, the left half of my bracket could still win all 4 games. But on the right half, I only have a chance to win 2 of the 4 games. I'm in the 99% nationally in ESPN, ranking 96,467 total. (I don't know how many millions of brackets there are). But of course that could drop based on what happens from here going forward.

Yesterday started the NCAA Men's basketball conference tournaments, which means there are now some teams that are officially done with their basketball seasons either because they lost in the first round of the tournament, or didn't qualify for the tournament. This begins my favorite time of the year - from the conference tournaments through the NCAA tournament. (The fact that the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer in March also help make this my favorite time of year).