Day 131

Sorry for the delay in re-posting, but as you know from my last blog, between the NCAA tournament and work, I've been kind of busy. First off, lets start talking about the disappointment of yet another one of my sports teams - My Kansas Jayhawks. For the last two months, my Hawks have been playing unbelievably well. We came in on a roll, winning the Big 12 conference tournament and 16 of 17 games. Their 22-3 record in the last 25 games ranked with any of the top teams. The starting lineup features three Freshmen and two Sophomores. The 8 man rotation only had one Senior. I knew that inexperience could be a factor in our first round game with Bradley, but the we this team had played, the closeness of the team, and the emergence of the roles, I pegged us as a Final Four team. Fast forward to about 11 PM Friday night, and the season was over after a 77-73 stunning loss to another mid-major team. I thought we had learned our lesson last year when Bucknell shocked the college basketball world with their upset over KU. Now for the first time since the early 80's, Kansas has lost back to back first round games. Reading the articles online and the chat boards, you see the "we were so young, we had a better season than anyone expected, and we will be great next year" side. The pessimist in me thinks that this was a giant choke job, we reverted back to our old bad habits I watched back in November and December, Bill Self's offensive game plan was a mistake costing us dearly, and we missed a golden opportunity to get to a Final Four with a relatively easy draw ahead of us.

More than 24 hours have passed, and I can honestly say that I am ok with it. Was I beyond pissed off Friday night? Of course I was, but the bottom line and what I keep telling myself is, its just sports. Its my hobby and passion, but it isn't my life. My main concerns need not be whether or not KU basketball advances to the Final Four. I should be concerned with fixing up my condo for the impending sale, trying to find a house in Cleveland with limited time to go look, finding Leah a job in Cleveland, and finding out what my potential new role at work will be. Speaking of which, on Friday I had a lengthy conversation with my boss about my move. When I approached him about it a few weeks back, he told me he was going to do what he could to get me back and keep me in my same role, but he couldn't promise that the role wouldn't change. He had spoken with my big client here about the possibility of me commuting to keep me in this role, and the client wasn't thrilled about it. So where does this leave me? My boss told me that he is in the process of moving a few things around and creating this new position for me but he needed a little more time to get it done. He said the bad news was that I will have to leave my current position, but the good news is that he thinks this new role will give me more responsibility and will give me a better chance for growth than my current position, where I have just about maxed out. The bottom line was that I will stay with my company, which I love working for, and my new role will be expanded with no pay cut. I don't even care what the role is, I am just thrilled that my company likes me enough to create a new role for me and accommodate my move back to Cleveland.

A couple more personal notes. I received word from Leah's grandmother that this blog received mention in a Cleveland Jewish News article about Clevelanders and blogs. While I did discuss this with my cousin Jan who works at the CJN back in November, I never knew this was being published. After I read it online, I was cool with it. I just wanted to make sure that the address wasn't posted as this blog is for my close friends and family only. Here is the blurb from the article.

Chait's was a very public blog, but the blog begun by TD, a native Clevelander now living in Chicago, is very personal. His blog address was given only to close friends and family. TD created the blog to document the days following his father's death from throat cancer. TD's upbeat posts touch on various aspects of his life in Chicago n his job, wife, work and sports teams. But issues of grief and loss are never far from the surface: his father's death, his mother's bout with breast cancer, his grief-related homesickness.

Also, yesterday, my cousin Debbie gave birth to a beautiful, 8 pound baby boy named Jordan Benjamin Klein. I just want to give my warmest congratulations to both Debbie and her husband Russ, who I know will make great parents. Those who know Debbie are probably asking the same question as I did to my Aunt Nancy last night, How can Debbie give birth to an 8 pound baby when she weighs 8 pounds herself? Anyways, much love to the Klein and Libman families on their first grandchild.