Today is the birth of my father. I am a slack son and stayed busy this morning because of TV baseball, so I didn't have the time to call until after lunch. He knows I love him. I did send him a picture of the two of us from the Final Four. I don't have many pictures with just me and my parents, but this was a great one. Me and my dad, both of us at the Final Four, just smiling and enjoying life. For me, that is an easy thing. For my parents ... well, they are growing older. I wish I could say a simple notice would take care of them, but they are older, more mature and dealing more with real life. The time has come for them to realize they are no longer spring chickens. I wish they were. Hell, I wish I was. But they realize more and more life can be tricky and taking care of yourself is very important. But even on your birthday, it is ok to be bad. So Dad, I hope you enjoyed your birthday. I wish I was there to enjoy it with you.

Instead I was here in Nashville, enjoying SEC baseball and time spent with friends. Steve and Kim Ekhoff were in town for the Music City Marathon. Steve and I were buds from back in our NIU days. Kim has just listened to me bitch about women and relationships sense she met me. However, she noticed a change in me this time. She realizes I'm happy and ready to move on. It makes me feel very good about myself and what I do. Regardless, we all hung out downtown tonight and acted as if we were still hangin' at Fatty's. Hell, that is how I roll.

A quick update ... life is great. I'm working my butt off, but the month of May will be very busy. I head, for the first time, to the Kentucky Derby next weekend. The next weekend is NCAA tennis regionals, with the following being Greg's wedding. The next weekend is SEC baseball in Hoover. A busy month, but well worth it.

Just keep things rollin' around here ... I will keep listening to my new Edwin McCain cd.

End of the 5th inning, and I just sent home our Guest Services staff. Yes, I'm here for another four innings. Not so bad, considering the sun has finally decided to show up. The past week's weather can kiss my ass. It has been cold, rainy and just pain crappy. As most of the golfers in Augusta are doing today, perhaps the weather has made the turn. I certainly hope so. This week I'll be outside Tuesday with baseball and then Thursday through Sunday with the SEC women's golf championship. And YES, ok, yes I need some sun on my little white legs.

Speaking of crappy weather, I was in Indianapolis, IN, all last weekend for the Final Four. It was very cold and rained most of the time. We even were hit with some tornadoes. The weather didn't stop us from having fun though. Dad drove into town Friday, and we had some dinner and took in some music at a couple of the country bars downtown. Saturday, we woke up and hit the road. We were scheduled to stay about 45 minutes south of the city, and Brandon and Rob were supposed to crash with us. Instead, Brandon called us mid-way through the trip to tell us he had stumbled across a free hotel room in the city, about 5 blocks from the RCA Dome. Certainly made the rest of the drive enjoyable.

As most of you could tell, the games were not that exciting. Really, the only thing keeping me awake is that our seats were three rows from the floor and sandwiched between the Florida and LSU students. Fortunately this was only for the semifinals on Saturday. Monday we only had to deal with Florida.

The fellas and I did some bar hopping Saturday night. Indy has an ok downtown. It seemed like every bar we ran across had some theme. There weren't many plain old bars. No worries though, they all served cold beer. That's really all we needed.

Sunday, the four of us did some sight-seeing. We took in some of the free concert downtown. We made reservations at what ended up being a great seafood place for dinner, and we wanted to go check out John Cougar Mellancamp, who was the headliner for the free downtown show. However, that's when those lovely tornadoes decided to hit town. The hotel was under strict watch and even one the buildings downtown lost about 40 windows. The weather finally subsided and we ventured out to a piano bar to wrap up the night.

Monday was a lazy day, which was ok with me. We did venture down to the NCAA Hall of Champions, which was neat. Actually, i can't remember if we did that Sunday or Monday. I'm loosing it. Before we made it to the RCA dome, the four of us had some drinks at an off-track betting facility. Now, this type of place isn't normally my thing ... but the beers were $2. Cheapest we found in Indy. We finally hit the game, and we all pulled for Florida ... yes, even I pulled for Florida. I do have some friends who work there, so I obviously was pulling for their best interest. Although, once the game ended I was thrilled I didn't have to pull for them any more. I'm just hoping my Bulldogs don't disown me for those two days of Gator cheer.

I was able to spend a little time with my buddy Tom and his family. They were the kind souls who helped my mom and me out last year when our tickets were stolen at the 2005 Final Four. I also ran into several folks from Georgia, the SEC office and a few other schools. However, I did not get to see my friend's Kacie and Joe. I am going to have to make it up to them and see them on my way up to the wedding in Chicago this summer.

It was great spending time with my dad. Being away from home, I never get enough time with any of my family members. We had a lot of fun though ... although, just like I was as a kid, I got ticked every time someone tried to wake me up in the morning. I'm a big sleeper, ok? I suppose you value more time spent with your parents as you get older. You realized you've learned so much from them and they still have a lot to teach. More importantly, I still have a lot to learn. I think I even had my dad eating a little better. He has lost some weight since his surgery and needs to maintain a healthy diet. Ok, the pizza Tuesday night doesn't count!

Seventh inning stretch time! My little lady has hit the road back to Atlanta and I am ready to wrap up this game. Brandon TIVOed Wrestlemania, so I believe that is what I will be doing with my Sunday afternoon.