Growing up in Durham, North Carolina I learned that March is special month. I was a fierce “ABC” - “Anyone But Carolina” during my formative years. Then I ended up going to UNC-Chapel Hill and learned that Carolina wasn’t all that bad. Now I cheer with pride for Carolina and Duke and sometimes even Wake Forest. So for our office pool I entered two brackets for the NCAAB Championship — one with Carolina winning and one with Duke winning.

I received an e-mail late friday night reminding me that my grandmother’s birthday is this Friday, August 5. Problem is she died this past spring. But my birthday card reminder service doesn’t know that. Having to manually go in and delete her entry just doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t want to delete her from my life. Her influence on my life was profound. When I was younger we lived next door to her and I called her my “other mother.”

Wish I could just change it to a reminder to celebrate her life, without the card. But no, this handy helpful service is just for cards. I think I need a new system.