I was up and out with the kids this morning at about 5:00, and Mars was in the western sky looking mighty red and impressive. Up above it and to the south a bit was Saturn – also looking impressive. I really need to pull my telescope out of the closet and play with it. It’s been a while and out here in the boonies, the stars are pretty awesome. It’s pretty cool to see the rings of Saturn and Jupiter’s “spot” – just like on the teevee. I used to know a lot about the night sky (was a big “Sky and Telescope” reader back in the day), but now I’ve pretty much forgotten it all. I’m lucky if I can remember what channel ESPN is on.

I realize nobody but me cares, but today is the final game of the regular season for SU basketball, and it’s even a home game, which is cool. A win would get them 30 wins in the regular season, which would be pretty amazing. If they lose, I will be miserable and unhappy (though there’s still the conference tournament, and then the big dance). The important thing is for us to get a #1 seed in the NCAAs, so they’ll keep us in the East and we can play games in Pittsburgh and, hopefully, Boston. I won’t burden my poor wife with the horror of basketball on the television, and will instead take Fritz over to play with his cousins while I watch the game with his aunt and uncle. It’s more fun for everybody.

Warm today, so I guess maybe I ought to see about accomplishing a few things.