It’s a sad time in the office

Well, the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament came and went. And excitement in our office came and went with it.

It’s funny how little things that most people don’t really care about in their lives outside the office can create intense, and I mean volcanic-erupting, zit exploding intense happiness at work. Examples:

-A bag of potato chips in the break room. (Today there is actually an assortment of chips. Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles, Albertson’s Potato Chips, Lays Classic Potato Chips, Sour Cream & Onion Ruffles, Authentic Barbecue Ruffles, along with creamy dill, creamy ranch and ranch-style dips!)

-A candy dish filled with mint life-savers, those gross butterscotch things and other hard candies.

-A half-eaten left-over cake from some event that took place on campus.

-Left-over sandwiches from a different event.

-Now here’s a scary one: left-over homemade casseroles from the office pot-luck party last week. Aagghh! (Some people will eat anything)

-Cutting snowflakes out of paper and hanging them on the wall.

-Hiding an old, unclaimed, dirty women's sweather at unsuspecting or absent co-workers' desks.

-Hearing David Archuleta on Pandora. (Oh wait, that’s just me, and I DO care about that when I’m not at work.)

Well, the NCAA tournament bracket war is not exempt from this list. I mean, there were a few people who actually cared and watched every game they could. I think just two people to be exact. And, believe it or not, they are the two that scored the highest (one of them actually went to the championship game last night) and will win the large collection of candy bars (everyone who participated in the tournament had to pitch in one full-size candy bar).
But most of those who participated (Ben and I did not get our brackets in on time. Procrastination.) are not into basketball at all. I heard two comments of how two different women chose to fill out their brackets:

1. “I picked the team whose colors I liked the most.”
2. “I picked the team whose name was easiest to spell.”

One male who works here simply copied Barack Obama’s bracket for his. (His bracket did NOT do well)

But, oh! Whether or not anyone likes basketball, every day, there was a huge gathering around the “bracket wall” to see who was in the lead after the previous day’s games. What excitement! What commotion!

Now, it’s all dwindling away. Every now and then a lonely straggler will wander over to stare at the wall, look at the winning brackets and then leave. The wall is slowly starting to look like New York City in “I am Legend,” a lonely deserted street with tumbleweeds blowing and grasses growing in the streets where cars and people once bustled busily about.

Oh well, everything must come to an end, right? It’s a good thing the weather is starting to warm up! I guess that won’t last long either, though.