The perfect March day

The perfect March day is about 68 degrees, overcast, and slightly windy.

There will be lots of basketball to watch.

Kids will play outside.

People will understand if you insist on wearing flip flops.

The sun will still be up at 7:30 p.m.

You can turn off the heater and sleep with the window open, basking in the deliciously refreshing breeze in your warmer-than-normal room.

And then you can start over again the next day.

It's hard to feel anything but completely content and happy on a perfect March day.

My kind of March Madness

Last year I discovered that March Madness is fun. My favorite part was watching BYU advance to the Sweet 16 (though I have blocked the last five minutes of that game from my mind to prevent chronic depression), but I began to see why males (predominantly) get so obsessed with their brackets and skip out on work to watch game after game. This tournament is as much about the players as it is the fans; everyone gets to participate. And regardless of what the experts say, the unthinkable happens all the time, adding fire to the craze.

I haven't filled out a bracket before because my knowledge of college basketball is still pretty limited. My bracketology would go something like this: every team that plays BYU is toast, any team I've heard of before outside of Utah (all four of them) will win (unless they play BYU), and I'll pick the rest of the teams based on their school colors or some vague rumor that has managed to make it down the lines to me.

Exciting upsets aside, I doubt the tournament will favor my bracket in the slightest. But it's fun to dream anyway.

But my newfound interest in March Madness took a standstill when I came across Mugglenet's Harry Potter themed March Madness.

I realize that "elite" basketball fans would be pained to see me slaughter their precious March tradition in such a way, but nothing gets me excited like Harry Potter does. I can't help it.

So naturally, as a self-proclaimed Harry Potter expert, I've spent random chunks of my day evaluating the most plausible outcomes of each "match," a.k.a., duel. I tried to approach each duel objectively, but it was painfully difficult at times, and I'll admit I favored the good guys over the bad guys. We can't have Voldemort winning, now can we? And at times I felt like a vile betrayer for crossing out  my favorite characters, but you have to make sacrifices sometimes.

Turn on your geek radar, because I'm going to break down the more interesting parts of this tournament for you.

2nd round considerations

• By far the most unfair matchups are Harry vs. Professor Sprout and Dumbledore vs. Lavender Brown. Professor Sprout, as head of Hufflepuff House, would have stood her ground against many other characters, but she doesn't stand a chance against Harry. Dumbledore could beat Lavender with his eyes closed and his hands and feet tied together. While mortally injured. While singing the National Anthem.
• I picked Percy over Molly Weasley for one reason: Mrs. Weasley would never duel, and defeat, her own son. Percy, while less far less capable than his mother, would have no problems proving to his mom that he could beat her.
• I debated over Bellatrix vs. Nearly Headless Nick for a while. At first I thought Nearly Headless Nick had the advantage because he can't die, but then, he can't really do anything to Bellatrix either, except, like, make her cold. And if a Basilisk can petrify Nick, then Bellatrix can certainly find a way to harm him.
• I almost picked Dudley over Collin because Dudley could beat Collin to a pulp in seconds, but all Collin has to do is pull out his "stick" and Dudley will cower in fear.
• Petunia is the only Muggle to win a duel because she could knock Crabbe out with one of her expensive vases before Crabbe had time to figure out which end of his wand to point at Petunia.
• McGonagall is noble enough to even out the playing field with Crookshanks and duel him as a cat. But she would still win.

1st round

• Most unfair matchups: Bellatrix vs. Collin, Sirius vs. Hedwig, and Dumbledore vs. Petunia. I should have left Collin to Dudley. Sniff, sniff.
• Narcissa Malfoy will let Draco win.
• I admire Ginny's spirit, but she's got a ways to go before she can take on Tonks.
• Pompous Percy could never make it past Neville.
• Bill will beat Umbridge because he's learned extra tricks from "lesser" creatures like goblins.
• Sorry Mad-Eye, but Voldemort has you beat.
• And as awesome as Kingsley is, Snape has extra weapons.
• Hermione loves some good competition, which is why she would beat her father-in-law.
• Xenophilius Lovegood is, I'm sure, a powerful wizard in his own way, but McGonagall would only have to say, "Look! A crumpled-horn snorkack!" and Xeno would be gone.

Sweet 16

• Hermione would have no problem beating her brother-in-law, George, either.
• Sorry Fred; I just don't see you beating the leader of the D.A.
• I am pleased to report that Snape will beat Voldemort. Voldemort is powerful, but Snape is trickier. And more awesome.

Elite 8

• Unfortunately, Bellatrix will beat Lupin to advance to the Final 4. Aurgh.
• The Sirius-Snape showdown would be epic. However, I pick Sirius to win because (1) he was clearly more talented than Snape while in school, and (2) I don't think Snape would be able to lock down his emotions enough to fight with a cool head.
• I also picked Hermione to beat Dumbledore, undoubtedly the biggest upset of the tournament. With his injured hand Dumbledore has a distinct disadvantage, but his opponent would still have to take him completely by surprise to defeat him. I think Hermione is clever enough to find a way to surprise Dumbledore.

Final 4

• Our Final 4 matchups would be as follows: Harry vs. Bellatrix and Sirius vs. Hermione.

Final

• Bellatrix can't beat our Harry Potter, and Sirius himself said that Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, so the final showdown will take place between . . . Harry and Hermione.

Champion

• Who will become the best witch/wizard of 2012? I feel slightly guilty about this, but I pick Hermione. Hermione taught Harry half of what he knows, and Harry himself would probably admit that Hermione is the favored winner, especially when such a big competition is at stake.

Yay Hermione! I'm happy with how this turned out. I fully expected Harry to win this one because, duh, but Hermione proved victorious.

Is anyone else as nerdy as me? I'm curious what others' final picks would be.

The careers you never heard of when you were a kid

When I was in college, I always dreaded the follow-up question to "What's your major?" After finding out I was an English major, about ninety percent of the time people would ask, "Are you going to teach, then?"

It drove me crazy. To me that said, "Oh, well English is basically a useless major, unless you plan on teaching high school or something." An unfounded accusation, yes, but that's the way I felt every time someone assumed I was going to be a teacher.

Note: I have nothing against teachers. I have a lot of respect for them, in fact, from the Gospel Doctrine instructors to the world-renowned college professors. It's just that teaching is not something I ever wanted to volunteer to do, especially in a career.

Things haven't improved much since I graduated. People still make incorrect assumptions about my career path.

But it's not their fault. American society tells us that we can be whatever we want to be, but we are still limited by what we know and understand. Most kids don't dream of becoming a data systems analyst when they grow up, for instance.

When I was in kindergarten, I concluded that I had five career paths to choose from when I grew up: teacher, bus driver, musician/athlete, doctor, and secretary. Those were the jobs I was familiar with because, for the most part, the adults I spent most of my time around fit into one of these categories. As far as I was concerned, the world didn't hold any other jobs.

When I was in fifth grade, my worldview had expanded a bit to include writer, actress/actor, computer genius, chef, janitor, seamstress, barber/hair dresser, president of the United States, and police officer.

And by high school, the career options in front of me had grown even more: interior designer, mechanic, architect, editor, lawyer, photographer, vet, interpreter. All careers that fit in nice little categories, with job descriptions that everyone understands.

It wasn't until I started searching for a post-college job that I began to comprehend just how many careers there are out there, many of which I had either never heard of before or was baffled to learn that such jobs even existed.

Take my current job title, marketing copywriter, for example. I didn't know what a copywriter was until I started applying for copywriting positions. Now I dread the automatic assumption that follows my revelation that I'm a copywriter for a company that does software for doctors' offices. It's usually either "So, you do some sort of legal work?" or "So, you write the software?" The remaining people just smile and nod, having no clue what I just said.

I am one of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who has one of those jobs that can't be adequately explained in three words or less, unless you spell out the acronym (if applicable). I wish I could just tell people that I'm a writer and be done with it, but society's traditional definition for "writer" doesn't really fit my job description.

Most of us don't dream of becoming something we've never heard of when we were kids, but that's the irony of the career world; there are far more ambiguous job titles than traditional ones available. It's one of those strange things that makes the world go 'round.

29 things

I get geekily excited about weird dates. Since the new millennium began, I think I've written in my journal on every digit-repeating date (1/1/01, 2/2/02, 3/3/03, etc.) just so I could see the repetitious numbers across the top of my entry. Last year's 11/11/11 was given far more significance than it really deserved.

So it should come as little surprise that I am blogging today, February 29, the special day that we add to our calendars every four years and that made me skip my last Friday-the-13th birthday.

But the thing is, I don't like Leap Day. If it was in any month other than February I wouldn't mind it so much, but I think this month is extra short (even with the added day thrown in every four years) for a reason: it just sucks.

But who knows if I'll ever get to blog on this abnormal day again. The next time this day comes around, I could be retired from blogging, or the internet could have combusted with its overload of useless information, or I could have moved to a country that doesn't allow free thinking.

All of the above are highly unlikely, but, just in case, I'm going to blog something today so that some day I can look back at this entry, see February 29 at the top, and think "Cool," and then move on with my life, glad that I took the time to acknowledge the interesting date while I had the chance.

So here's 29 random things that have crossed my mind on my least favorite day of the year calendar.

1. February 29 is the last day providers can attest for a 2011 meaningful use payment.
2. I didn't have to make a lunch today.
3. Last night I dreamt that I was in a juvenile delinquent camp at my high school and no one would tell me what the rules were. I found out through the grapevine that I had to work in the bindery on Saturdays, but every two weeks I would get four hours "off," which meant that I could invite a friend to come work with me. Lucky friend.
4. I spent my entire shower trying to come up with a believable lie I could tell my boss so that I could work at home today (a.k.a., go back to bed for two hours).
5. Then I remembered how boring  it was working at home last week, so I just came to work a little more ornery than usual.
6. The sun may have shown its face this month, but it's a heck of a lot brighter in March.
7. I can't believe I left my "My Fair Lady" music at my parents' house again.
8. I'm hungry. My dad ate my dinner last night.
9. I was rather shocked to find my phone in my pocket when I was certain that I had left it at home.
10. I officially made it into the Word Nerd group on LinkedIn.
11. I slept the entire night without waking up once. So now I'm groggy and a little disoriented because I didn't get my usual hours-long waking-up process.
12. There is a stain on my BYU hoodie. That's embarrassing.
13. I'm getting sick of my music collection again, so I'm listening to all my songs in alphabetical order now, which means I'm not allowed to skip any. You should try it some time; it's quite fun. I am currently on "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" by Jon Schmidt.
14. I have a strange obsession with pizza.
15. Here comes the annoying editor radar: "everyday" should be two words unless it's being used adjectivally.
16. I am wearing a purple shirt today.
17. Considering all the grumbling I've done today, it's gone by quite quickly.
18. I need to finish this post because it's distracting me.
19. It is currently 45 degrees in Midvale.
20. Sometimes it's really hard to write like a man, and I have no idea if I'm actually doing it right.
21. I want to banish the phrase "I know, right?" from existence forever. I'm talking balefire here.
22. I feel like a student again this week: tired and unsure how I'm going to get everything done.
23. When my nephews smile at me my heart instantly melts.
24. I removed the BYU mug from my desk two days ago and no one has commented on its lack of presence yet. Weird.
25. People automatically change the subject to BYU basketball when they think conversation is getting a little too shady for a BYU grad's ears.
26. 3D printing is cool. And a little bit freaky.
27. I'm sick of my short hair, but short-hair ponytails are still fun.
28. If this were a normal February, I could stop this list right here. Actually, if it were a normal February I wouldn't be writing this post at all.
29. I want to read J.K. Rowling's new book.

The favoritest season of all: Construction

One of the nice things about winter is that construction projects (sometimes) halt for a few months. Workers will literally stop everything mid-project when the snows come, and don't usually bother to put machinery away or move those annoying orange cones.

Did I say that was one of the nice things about winter? Hmmm.

Only, this "winter," certain people didn't abandon their projects; the work must go on, despite the weather. People need buildings to live in and buildings to work in, gosh dang it.

After spending almost two weeks in the construction zone that was my parents' house, I returned to work after New Years only to be tossed back into the construction zone that is my office building.

But, adapting to an environment, no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient it is, is part of the human code, so we adjusted.

• We continued to use the conference room / break room / storage area for meetings and soon ignored the people that would walk in to squeeze something into the fridge, make copies, or fill the room with smells of coffee.
• In what was supposed to be a short arrangement (a couple of days) but that has stretched on for months so far, others were forced to take on an office roommate and just deal with the extra conversationalist in the background when trying to demo a product or close a sale.
• Some were forced to wait 20 extra minutes for lunch because that was less scary than interrupting an important meeting taking place behind closed doors where the fridge was located.
• Every week someone says, "Where did the microwave go?!" 
• No one even reacts when the power goes out.
• Half the building is in darkness, so the support guys have to huddle in their little cubicles and do all of their work by lamplight.
• One of the elevators is accessible only to the construction guys, which means the rest of us have to either take the stairs (gasp!) or wait an eternity (about 45 seconds) for the other elevator to make the trip back to the 2nd floor.
• There is only one way in and out of the office. No more shortcuts.
• And, of course, the sounds of demolition and rebuilding are just charming. And I've heard the men's bathroom is even more charming, especially in the afternoons.

That was all before, when the construction was mostly taking place in areas we didn't need to be in.

Now, the construction has moved on to the center of our office, the hallway that divides the support/tech people from the sales/marketing/finance people, the hallway that leads to our only exit.

So now, in addition to all of the above,

• we must enter the unsteady, one-way tunnel of Sheetrock and plastic tarp whenever we want a drink or need to use the bathroom,
• the pounding just got ten times louder,
• the fire alarm goes off all the time,
• even more people have been displaced from their offices,
• and it's a lot colder in here all of the sudden.

But alas, it's hard to phase us humans, and despite the extra grumbling, the work does go on. Unfortunately.

On being an introvert

Most of the time, I like people. I like learning about their backgrounds, trying to figure out what type of person they are based on the things the don't say, and listening to their dramatic monologues. People entertain me, and I think that, for the most part, people are good. So I'm a fan of them.

Sometimes, however, people annoy me, and the only satisfying company I can find is, well, myself.

Thus is the common conundrum of the introvert: liking and understand people, but not wanting to be around them all the time.

Some common characteristics of introverts:

1. Introverts generally have to be dragged to parties and social functions, and then need at least a day to recuperate from them.
2. Small-talk skills are pathetically non-existent, though listening skills are above average.
3. Introverts are deep thinkers and are very good at entertaining themselves.
4. Being singled out feels a bit like having a heart attack
5. Introverts may be in their element when presenting something to a large group of people, but tend to hide in the shadows when interacting in small groups.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where being a talkative, go-getter type person is not only considered normal, but is preferable in most spheres. Introverts are usually coined with terms such as "loner," "taciturn," and "guarded," while extroverts are described as bighearted, warm, and empathic. It is true that the extroverts are usually easier to get along with, but because introverts are very much a mystery to the outgoing types, they are largely misunderstood, at least among those who don't give their brains time to process information before they start spurting out words.

Common misconceptions of introverts:

1. Introverts are either (1) rude, or (2) extremely sweet with no opinions of their own.
2. Introverts hate people.
3. Introverts are arrogant and/or unintelligent.
4. If someone is lost in thought, clearly that means that something is wrong with them.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people try to tell me what I'm thinking. Rather than letting me speak for myself, they'll make their own conclusion and announce it to the world as if it were undisputed fact. I love the words of Jonathan Rauch, a self-proclaimed introvert, who said:

The worst of it is that extroverts have no idea of the torment they put us through. Sometimes, as we gasp for air amid the fog of their 98-percent-content-free talk, we wonder if extroverts even bother to listen to themselves. Still we endure stoically, because the etiquette books--written no doubt, but extroverts--regard declining to banter as rude and gasps in conversation as awkward. We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood, when perhaps an Introverts' Rights movement has blossomed and borne fruit, it will not be impolite to say "I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."

Pure gold.

So, a little advice to the extroverts out there: don't be offended if the introvert doesn't talk to you, don't worry about their emotional well-being when they say they want to be alone, and please, don't talk down to them. Introverts are usually peaceable, easy-going creatures. Until you annoy them, that is.

Groundhog Day experiences

After I hit the snooze button six times this morning, my exasperated alarm clock greeted me with this statement: "Punxsutawney Phil has indeed predicted that there will be six more weeks of winter." My first thought was, "What winter?" I have yet to experience my first magical snowfall of the season, and seeing as we're already in February and it hasn't happened yet, this winter is dead to me. I don't care what the all-knowing groundhog says.

A few weeks ago I was browsing through channels (probably waiting for a basketball game to start) and came across one of the classics of film, Groundhog Day. Tyrel used to make sure we watched this every year on February 2, just like he made sure we watched Independence Day on July 4. Though none of us have literally had to relive the same dreary day over and over and over again, I'm sure we can all relate to that helpless feeling that tries to tell you that winter, the work day, school, or a particular struggle is never going to end.

However, there are some experiences that I don't mind reliving day after day, year after year. For example . . .

I usually succumb to that itch I get about every 15 months to read Harry Potter again.

Once a book makes it to my favorites list, the thought of never reading it again is too depressing.

I've seen every episode of Gilmore Girls, er, more than once, and the dialogue still kills me.

The transition to fall is always magical.

Holidays, particularly the 4th of July, Labor Day, General Conference, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, wouldn't be nearly as special if we didn't get to revisit them every year.

Weekends. Need I say more?

Kimberly and I use the same strategies every time we play Risk or Star Wars Monopoly. And we never get bored.

So, uh, happy Groundhog Day, everyone! Since I'm boycotting winter, I've decided to celebrate this inane holiday by pondering the happy side of repetitiveness rather than injure my brain trying to wrap my mind around the idea that if the sun is out, clearly that means more winter.