My band Doughty Hill is performing tonight, 7-10 p.m., at Pat's in Dover-Foxcoft, so put on your big boots and your down coat and come listen to us. As side activities, you can also eat pizza and watch your basketball bracket continue to crash and burn.

Basketball brackets are one of the childish amusements I share with Paul. We make them together every year, and every year they are awful. This year we also made them for the pets, Ruckus and Anna, who are currently doing much worse than we are. The lesson in this is that my son and I seem to be very skilled in making stupid choices and stupider choices. We have a weakness for comical mascots, places we've been, Cinderella teams from previous years, and teams not coached by obnoxious old lizards. This is not scientific decision making.