Too much free time

I've never seen a basketball game. Certainly no college or NBA game. Maybe a game at my high school, but probably not. My event at work has some people in from out of state, and others from out of the country. The company has a luxury box at the arena, so we were able to get passes to use the box. The Bucks were playing the Chicago Bulls last night, and half our group was able to go. The people who weren't into basketball as much, went tonight, to see them play the New Orleans Pelicans. Aside from the fact that I don't care about sports, I was fine with seeing this game because I'd never heard of the team.

The Bucks were behind for most of the game, then finally took the lead and were able to keep it close and won in overtime.

The box itself was just four rows of seats, but the seats were nicer and there was more room. The real benefit was the free food and drink. They had a really fancy buffet. Quite a variety of food - spare ribs, stir fry, brisket sandwiches, mac & cheese, grilled asparagus, fried chicken, some nice desserts including ice cream sundaes, and a station of cheese, crackers, sausage and veggies. All high quality stuff. And a bar which had some decent stuff if not a wide variety.

Those pro sportsball games drive me crazy. Every moment of the evening was filled with spectacle. They had contests and exhibitions and giveaways and people dancing on camera and... I don't even know. Oh, they had Humande Society in for an adoptable-puppy race on court at halftime (not one puppy knew what to do or where to go). Their mascot sunk a backwards half-court shot. That was kinda cool to see. They have to play music while the game is on, or the energy level would fall flat. It's insane.

We had our fancy dress ball on Saturday, the Robert Burns Banquet. All over the world, on this night, the Scottish diaspora gathers to celebrate Burns, the Bard of Scotland. There were recitations of his poems and songs. After dinner there was a pipe band and Scottish dancers. Later on, a Celtic-ish folk Duo.

I wear my formal kilt outfit - my Prince Charlie jacket with tails. It was weird, though. Right when we got there, Cindy told me that my bow tie had come undone. I don't tie it from a loose tie, it's on a strap that goes around my neck, and it had come unclipped. Later on, the hook on my belt broke, and it started falling off. Around that same time, during the performances, I dropped my flash unit. It was fine except a piece of trim came off. But it was weird.

It only got up to 2° yesterday. Fortunately it wasn't a long walk to the car. Today it was 12°. We were supposed to have our little ceremony at the Robert Burns monument. We always meet there for some more Burns (we always sing "Auld Lang Syne) and then retire to a nearby pub for refreshments. Because of the cold we decided to skip the monument and just meet at the pub. The woman who normally bring her scones wasn't able to come, so we had kringle. Not as many people as usual, but had nice talks with a few of them.

On the way down, I saw four cars spun out on the freeway. One of them *just* happened. When I got downtown it didn't seem very cold until I turned a corner and was walking into the wind. Holy cow. We have a rule that we wouldn't stay out there for more minutes than the temperature. I think we could have done twelve minutes, but not in that wind!