Thursday, November 30, 2006

Thursday

This will be pretty short today. December will be coming in with a flurry tonight. Cold for sure. The snow may stay south of us.

Coach Kate texts that her team got Win #2 today.

I see where UM canned Coach Monson today. There was a guy who six or seven years ago put Gonzaga on the national college basketball map. His Minnesota teams have never done well. For some reason he couldn't keep players in school even when their NBA prospects were not that high. In contrast, Mark Few has kept the Zags in the top 10 or 15 most years.

The Big 10-ACC shoot-out showed a big gap in the quality of the teams. Seems like the ACC just has lots more talent. Ohio State should come around once Odean is healthy. And Izzo usually gets Michigan State ready come tournament time. But the bottom half of the Big 10 will be lucky to go to the NIT.

I ended up going to the Augie game last night. At least for the first half. Ambrose rolled them by 23. Augie is not showing the toughness that it will take to equal last years' success.

The popcorn was worth the trip. A little salty, but good and hot. The Ambrose gym was pretty full, and loud.

The new SB's opens tomorrow near the office. I may become a semi-regular there too. It does create options.

Stay warm .

Be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Wednesday PM

This has turned into a yucky day. Rain and impending cold.

I had to attend another Continuing Professional Education program this AM. Three hours on "Professional Ethics". I think that the state has come up with a new requirement to have a minimum of three hours of the annual required total of forty hours be on ethical conduct. This is all Enron fallout. The profession needs to show reform and this educational update requirement gives them something to report to the state and federal governing bodies.

I guess that the concept is okay, but this program was a complete waste of my time. The Yahoo who was the instructor may or may not have been involved with the development of the course workbook. The workbook led you through interactive stuff that you might have done in junior high school. Not as a 57 year old with 30+ years in the business.

I read the papers, did a couple 0f crosswords and chatted up other dis-interested parties in the back row. Fortunately, the guy didn't try to draw me into any of the discussions. It would not have been pretty.

I may not make it over to the Augie game. It doesn't start until 7:30, and that gets way to close to my bedtime.

The U of Iowa is having a difficult time with the search for a new President. The search committee recently declined to offer the job to any of the four finalists, and the relations between the faculty and the Board of Regents (which governs all of Iowa's state universities) got so bad that Governor Vilsack delayed some of his own political stuff to have a closed door session with some of the players last weekend. The paper today says that the situation has cooled some, but no one has any information on a solution.

The interesting point raised in the DM Register today was the relationship of Wellmark (a big Iowa health insurer) and it's influence through the interconnected ties of the Board of Regents and it's own Board of Directors. Lots of crossover, and Wellmark paid the U Hospitals a couple hundo mil last year. Like everything else in the world, you need to follow the money.

The position of President of Iowa has been a stepping-stone in the last fifteen years to some pretty attractive presidencies at higher profile places like Michigan, Cornell and Dartmouth. I guess that that speaks well of Iowa on the one hand, but why are they leaving? Is it just the money?

There was also an article in today's Register about the Des Moines Area Community College's dental hygienist's program. They have like a two or three year wait to get into the program, and then they have graduates who can't find a job. The dentists whom I know have mixed feelings about the hygienists. The hygienists often want to work limited hours, at a high rate and there tend to be plenty of them around. I don't think that we have a shortage of dentists around here, and my guess is that staffing is not that much of a problem. I guess I can see why there may not be that many new jobs developing each year.

Everyone is crying to find nurses. And they're laying off teachers at the end of each fiscal year around here. I guess it pays to figure out a profession that has some shortages on the employment side before setting a course.

How can we get rid of a few lawyers?

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday AM

Congrats to 1 for her upgrade to full-time for second semester. That's a big deal.

She also had her first win with her ninth-grade girls last night! Go Spartans!

The run for 2 and I last night was very hard. I felt like I was carrying a load of bricks the entire way. I need to go back to the bike trainer.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Tuesday

No blog today. Running with 2 at 5PM. Dinner with my pal Roy at 6PM.

Great effort on the blog by 4. She needs to do more of that.

3's pain came from dry sockets on her wisdom teeth removal sites. Emergency repairs in IC today. She'll be getting better.

Another warm day here. How many more?

Be careful out there.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Monday PM

So Monday was another Monday.

One of the little episodes I went through over the weekend was the temporary loss of the keys to the Taurus. It came to my attention around noon on Saturday that I must have misplaced the keys. I did the old re-tracing of my steps for the entire day, even though I hadn't driven the car since Friday afternoon. I checked my recycling bin because I knew that I had tossed some empties in there in the morning. I even went by SB's to see if they had fallen from a jacket pocket in the cushion of my regular chair. In the end, I found the keys in the Buick before we took off for IC, almost but not quite, under the front passenger seat.

And the reason they were in the Buick? I'm pretty sure that I took both sets out of the house with me on Saturday morning unsure of my ride, but made my choice of driving the Buick because the Taurus' windows were fogged-over. I must have tossed the Taurus' keys on the passenger seat and then later on knocked them to the floor while messing with the newspapers after coffee.

The whole incident reminded me of 4's problem with her keys at the truckstop earlier this Fall. You go through the motions of some activities and all of a sudden, things vanish. I also am such a huge creature of daily habits, that even small variations can lead to some bad results.

My pal Roy thinks I'm becoming a little overly agoraphobic. Since my norovirus problem a couple of weeks ago, I have shied away from shaking hands with people. I've also been known to tell him, "No, I don't want to go out with you tonight". And he doesn't have many people tell him "no" to anything. Anyway, he's enjoying his venture into analysis of my habits.

For the Clone fans in the crowd, I've never heard of the guy they are bringing in for the football job. Gene Chizik is not exactly a household name. I hope he can bring some players to Ames.

On a related note, I like the results of Clone b-ball so far. This guy can coach. It's a matter of whether he can get the talent to compete with KU and UT.

So hope everyone is off to a good start for the week.

Be careful out there.

Monday AM

I was certainly off my blog game over the holiday weekend. I'll do better this week.

The Irish are licking their wounds. The Hawks are licking their wounds. Da Bears are licking their wounds. The Clones b-ball team seems to be the only group on the plus side.

USA Today reports today that Michael Richards has indeed begun psychiatric therapy for his recent outburst. You heard it here first last week.

2 and I got to our first Augie b-ball game yesterday. We left early when they had the lead, which they managed to lose before winning in the last minute. Small crowd and not that great of a game. They have St. Ambrose in Davenport on Wednesday.

The shopping season will be way too long for me this year.

Busy week here. More later. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Friday

The retailors call this "Black Friday" for some reason. Generally, in the securities business, "Black Whateverday", is associated with a big down market day. Today is usually the biggest sales day of the year. I guess if sales are not large enough, then it can be a negative day. But it seems odd to call it "black" from the outset.

It was a successful TT. 2 and I completed the five miles in just over 55 minutes, right where I thought we might be. The stretch up the Main Street hill was really hard. Gravity is a powerful thing. 1 and Matt did real well, under 45. The weather was almost perfect. Sunny and 40's, little wind. Lots of runners in shorts and t-shirts. A far cry from a year ago when 3 ended up in bed for the weekend.

Mom did a great job with the turkey dinner. 3 was responsible for the gravey. (She's a muti-talented securities analyst). And we had a foo-foo salad as well. Very high class.

Took Margret out for a spin too. I will probably take her off insurance for the period December-March. She's a fair-weather girl.

Very low-key day here at the office. The markets closed early. Phones were pretty quiet.

4 has elected to use the SB's coffee group for the subject of her film class. She came by this AM for a few shots and says that she will be back tomorrow for more. My pal Roy and I are honored.

No Tuscan red tonight, or at least none on the town. We may do a little FFF at my place, depending on 3 and the collective interest of the fam.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Wednesday

Best wishes to all on a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend.

Beautiful sunny day here. Maybe 60 degrees outside.

Interesting to note after my commentary here last week about San Antonio that the Hawks are now headed there for their bowl game. If fans were looking for a place to go for a few days over the holidays, they could do worse than SA.

I've missed the first two Augustana bball games, both wins, for conflict reasons. Maybe next week. My biorhythms just aren't on bball yet.

I'll make some brief entries these next few days, but probably not anything of length until Sunday.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Tuesday

This is tax-tax Turkey Day. The clan gathers tomorrow evening. We're about 39 hours to the TT as I write this.

2 and I had a nice run last night and we'll do an easy three miles this evening as a final shake-down for the TT. I'm pretty much back to normal from the weekend's illness. I'm still slow-a-foot, but that is normal for me.

Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld) got in trouble over the weekend for ranting and raving at some hecklers at his stand-up comedy routine at some club in LA, including hurling some ugly racial slurs. Let's see, Mel Gibson has to go into rehab for alcohol for some racial incidents. Foley has to go into rehab for paging pages. Kieth Urban has to go into rehab for being way too foo foo for country music. How long will it take for Kramer to announce that he has to go into rehab for anger management?

Besides Jerry, have any of the characters had a life after Seinfeld? I know Elaine has a show on TV now, but its like her fourth attempt, and its not very good. I never see George, and this is the first I have heard of Kramer in years. Its almost like being a kid star; the show is done, and so is the kid star, doomed to being an assistant producer for his/her adult life.

I guess Peterman made it on Dancing With The Stars. That's what I call making it.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Monday

OK. I had very little to do with the uploading of the pictures yesterday. I had stopped over at Centry Heights for some home-made chicken soup, and 2 and 4 did the labor once I had logged on to 4000 Days. I may employ that duo to get some more-current pics on the site from this weeks' gatherings.

So the Minnesota wedding is scheduled for July 20, 2007. That's a Friday evening. In the church on the campus of the U of St. Thomas. I'm sure that the time between now and then will pass too quickly for some things, and maybe too slowly for others. The reception location and the hotel headquarters should be the next major choices to nail down.

I think that I am back among the living. We'll see in a little while when 2 and I head out for our next-to-the-last training run before the TT. I need to eat well these next couple of days. I'm sure that what I had was the same type of norovirus thing that was in the news over the weekend about the Carnival cruise ship Liberty where some 700 passengers fell ill. Nasty little buggers and almost impossible to contain in such close quarters as on a cruise ship at sea.

3 is in the news again. Actually, she's on the couch in Century Heights, and probably will remain there much of the next couple of days. She had all four wisdom teeth removed this AM (as scheduled). Talk about nasty.

ND is screwed, glued, and tattooed to the Rose Bowl or the like. If they beat USC, and Florida and Arkansas both lose one of their two remaining games (one of those teams will definitely lose a game), the BCS will be left with Ohio State and Michigan II.

The 48 won the Nextel Cup. By finishing 9th yesterday. Ho hum. The 24 must have been riding in a dog yesterday. He was never in the top 15 when I flipped through channels to check on the race. His spot in the final standings was almost locked in if he started and finished the race, which is exactly what happened. Sixth gets him a spot on the stage at the awards dinner, but when you've won four championships, sixth place is not very exciting. (He did marry his Danish/Europeanish fiance last week, and she does make the exciting category.)

I mowed my front yard again yesterday. Who mows their front yard on November 19th? Actually, I was collecting leaves with the lawn mower, but it would be hard to argue that I was only collecting leaves since I was using the lawn mower to do so. Anyway, it was pretty late in the season to fire up the mower. There have been years when I have started up the snow blower before November 20th.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Sunday PM

Here is visible proof of the engagement. Katie is very happy. As are the rest of her family.

Be careful out there.

Sunday AM

I am beginning to return from the dead. Friday and Saturday were pretty much lost days for me. I finally was able to keep some solid food down last night. Funny deal.

I invite 1 to share her exciting news here today.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Friday

No blog today.

I developed a case of intestinal flu about four bells this AM. I thought that it was something that I ate, but my buddy Pete thinks that it's a viral thing. A couple of gals from his office had the same thing earlier this week. Whatever. Lots of couch time. And no Tuscan red this evening.

Be careful out there.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Thursday

I don't think that I have a lot to add tonight, and I'm getting started a little late. Another scheduled run with 2.

The TT is now less than a week away. We have tentatively scheduled our training runs through next Tuesday. The one thing that registered with me last night was the importance of diet. My meals the prior 36 hours had been very disconnected. Few carbs and lots of grease. I had met a friend in C-town for dinner and we chowed down on spicey chicken wings and Coors Light. Tuscan red will have it's limits tomorrow. Same for any Wednesday evening socializing.

Lots of press on the Ohio State-Michigan game. Can't say that I care much. ND is in a bad spot. They could win out and not get to the championship game. If Ohio State wins big, a rematch of Ohio State-Michigan would be unlikely. The one loss teams all have hills to climb. Actually, you have two possible other no-loss teams that are out there, Rutgers and Boise State. The moon and the stars would have to be lined up perfectly for ND to be the choice for the championship. And if Michigan wins decisively Saturday, the Irish will be outside looking in regardless.

1's comments on her page about Christmas should be disregarded. My guess is that school and life in IC have her at a lower point on her life-outlook scale. Her birthday and the Christmas Eve overlap form our family's signature day of the year. And that marathon gift unwrapping session on Christmas morning/afternoon is a wonderful time. It may not be about the presents, but presents are good.

A favorite comment among the adult "boys" whom I associate with is that the golf trip is not about golf. Or the ski trip is not about skiing. Or the Cub's game is not about the Cub's. Etc., etc., etc. The meaningfulness of each of those events, regardless of the activity or the destination, is the enduring friendships. And, of course, the stories. And at our ages, we repeat those stories frequently. And we might even embellish them over the years.

So Christmas is not about the gifts. But gifts lead to good memories. And good stories.

I'm off to the races, so to speak.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Wednesday PM

Pretty quiet out there.

The biggest sports news story over the last 36 hours has been the Bobby Knight incident. The rant and rave sports talk show Neanderthals have asked for his head again. I find it amazing how universally despised he is by the sports media. I'm not a big fan of his, but the flaming and gaping going on here is not by Knight but by members of the Fourth Estate.

Sorry for the brevity here, but I need to get going to make my appointed run with 2.

1 advises me that her first 9th grade game is Tuesday.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday AM

Back from C-town. Long day. The traffic is always a bad memory.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Monday

Not much for today. Monday's are always a bit hectic and today was no exception.

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of 4000 Days. So I guess this is the "Tax Anniversary" for the blog. It has been a great year putting out my pearls of wisdom. If I was more creative, I might come up with a Top Ten list of the best things about the blog. But I'm just too tired to try that for now. Maybe later.

I leave at oh dark hundred tomorrow for C-town. I'll try to add something to this while on the road. I plan an early return Wednesday morning.

Just ten days to the TT. 2 and I are headed out tonight for our normal three miler.

Discovery is already getting grief for signing Basso. There's a DNA test that the cycling community had wanted all riders to take to refute the drug suspicions from the Spanish investigation that had resulted in the suspensions of many riders, including Basso, earlier this year. Basso had refused. I think that he ought to take the test. If he's clean, good for him and Discovery. If not, "ciao".

The Cards did the right thing and renegotiated Jim Edmonds' deal to keep him in centerfield. He was due a one year option of like $13 mil, which StL would not have picked up given his age and performance. But a two year deal of around $9 mil per year was good for both sides. He's a baseball player and StL is a baseball town.

Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sunday

I guess you could say that we have been a little neglectful of the blog this weekend.

Friday evening turned into a little longer night than anticipated, with a little more Tuscan red than necessary. I paid the price on Saturday morning when 2 and I did our scheduled five mile run. That last mile and a half was brutal. Still got done in under an hour, but it wasn't pretty. 2 did great. Her plans for a half marathon are very realistic.

Today was a recovery day. Not all that productive.

My buddy Pete's son, the walk-on, logged in 24 minutes in the Hawks' opener against DIII Buena Vista College. Seven assists. The starting guard is out with an injury, and they just signed two guards in their recruiting class for next year, but now is now, and he should get more playing time in the next few games. Good for him

The Irish beat up the USAFA yesterday. And moved up to sixth in the complicated BCS poll. ND goes for the Comander in Chief's trophy (just kidding, folks!) next week at home against Army, having now beaten Navy and AF. If they take care of business next week, they'll be 10-1 going into the USC game after Thanksgiving. There could be several mil on the table for a victory in that game.

I remember being at the USAFA stadium for my nephew's graduation. It's a very inspirational environment. The military acadamies definitely are the homes of the best and the brightest.

My partner Bill and spouse did a weekend getaway in San Antonio. Having been there a couple of times in recent years, I can attest that San Antonio is a very nice place to visit. The focal point of tourism is The River Walk, several downtown blocks of hotels, shops and restaurants that have been built on either side of a narrow channel of water that I think is now only there for show. The river is hardly as wide as a street. But they do boat cruises, and I remember at the NCAA regional how fans of competeing teams did cheers against each other from boat-to-boat. The Alamo obviously gets lots of attention too. With plenty of golf courses, event centers, and other tourist oriented development, San Antonio can be an interesting place to spend a few days. Although maybe not in the Summer. I think the only temperature there in the Summer is "hot".

I have a conference in Chicago on Tuesday at an O'Hare-area hotel. I've scheduled a dinner meeting after the conference and I may just stay the night, coming back early Wednesday. This is the prime time of the year for CPA continuing education programs. The state societies require each member to attend 40 hours of classes each year. That translates to a week of time. Most are one day programs, although the Florida event that I went to for several years was a 2 and 1/2 days. You have to send in class-by-class data every couple of years to the states to authenticate your attendance at the minimum number of classes. Every once in a while you read about someone who didn't get the CPE done, and that's not real good publicity.

This program is sponsored by the Illinois CPA society. Lots of programs are presented by other educational entities or just private firms in the educational business. All of the professions have these continuing education requirements, lawyers, doctors, etc., so there have been lots of businesses that have been formed to do these classes. Each day usually costs a minimum registration fee of $250-300, with some programs quite a bit higher. Hotels, meals and other travel expenses are all in addition to the registration fee.

Some of the more creative continuing education companies do programs on cruise ships, at ski resorts, or, surprise, Disney World! Actually, this is just a small segment of the convention business in the hospitality industry. There's no rule that says you can't host a meeting in Las Vegas or Aspen. But the class and the time devoted to it need to be legitimate. Some organizations got carried away. It got so bad that they had to come up with regulations that limited the number of foreign-based events that you could claim in any given year. (Those Investment Tax Credit workshops held in Tahiti were pretty popular.) The IRS cracked down on this industry in the '70's and '80's by placing strict requirements on the time devoted to educational activities versus the time to leisure. Now the deductibility of the travel and other expenses is much more closely monitored and the classic boondoggles are not as attractive.

Hope everyone is well and that y'all have a great week.

Be careful out there.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Friday

No blog today.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thursday

Another extremely nice day in the QCA. Met a Criterium Financial vendor for mid-morning coffee at SB's and sat outside, and worked up a sweat. Not too often that that happens in November.

2 and I are back on the training schedule tonight. Two weeks to the TT.

3 and friends made a random decision and are in C-town for a concert tonight. John Legend? All I know is that his CDs are on sale at SB"S. With a return trip tonight, it will be a long day for that crew.

I went on a tour of the factory facilities on the RI Arsenal yesterday. With the Base Reallignment And Closure (BRAC) threat still out there, the civilian managers at The Arsenal are doing some things to try to improve utilization of the space and equipment on the base. They have over 1.5 million square feet of space under roof that they want to keep operational. So they are out recruiting local, or not so local, businesses that may have use for some of the manufacturing capabilities on the island. My pal Roy has several companies that conceivably could use these capabilities, but it's not like he's out looking for anything right now. But they wanted to give him the royal treatment, and I was included at his request.

The most staggering thing we observed on a tour that last more than an hour was how much excess capacity that exists in their factory. There were row-after-row of huge pieces of manufacturing equipment, presses, lathes, and more. Some fairly basic in function, some computerized and very sophisticated. From actual activity going on that we could observe, less than 25% of the stuff was being currently used. I'm not sure if that constitutes waste, but it definitely smacks of government operations. Not enough accountability.

The gal at the contractor's visitor entrance was about as unfriendly as they come. As has been the case when I have ridden my bike on to The Arsenal for the Memorial Day ceremonies, these low level government employees in positions of authority have a tendency to get carried away with their own importance.

I suppose I need to get going. 2 doesn't like to be late on Thursday nights. I wonder why? Oh, I know...ESPN football!

The radio spots I ran this Fall were done incorrectly. The sales gal had to admit that to me today. We had had the spot recut to correct some pronunciations, and the producers used the original flawed spots . They will give me some comp time as make-ups.

So have a great night.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Wednesday II

This was supposed to be the lead item in my earlier posting. As first indicated in an entry here last week...

BASSO SIGNS WITH DISCOVERY!!!!

If, of course, he can pass the drug tests.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I wonder how the post-election news will run. I have avoided anything where I might have to watch Katie Couric or Nancy Pelosi. Or the worst case, both on the same screen. So far I've been successful.

It's pretty obvious that Iraq was the deciding issue in the vote. It wasn't the deficit, the minimum wage bill, or taxes. People were, and are, tired of seeing GIs killed in what looks like a hopeless country that seemingly cannot get past ethnic hatred.

I think we'll have two years of political stand-offs with the focus quickly turning to the Presidental election in 2008. If the economy can withstand a flu bug in the next few months, growth ought to continue. Then it will be a long campaign with lots of uncertainty. In the meantime, I celebrate with every other American of voting age the quietness of the airwaves now that the name-calling has stopped.

Doing three with 2 tonight. It must still be in the 60's outside. Great day.

Enjoyed 4's entry from yesterday. And 1's health tips.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Tuesday

I'm feeling a little under the weather this evening. I'll let the readers do most of the posting today.

Election Day was always a big day in our home as I grew up. Politics was a passion for Daddy. And he was good at it. But the dark side of the "investigative press" began to surface in his last couple of elections, and by the mid '70's, it was time to pass the torch to others. I remain interested in the political process, but I can't imagine why anyone who had a good career/job would seek public office today.

Rather than watch the results on network or cable tonight, I think I'll watch a game or a movie, read a book, do a crossword, or just go to bed early. I'll save digesting the post-mortems for tomorrow.

I watched none of the CMA awards last night. The stories online and in the papers said that some of my old favorites performed and won as they should have, but my interest in the program (and country music generally) has waned in the Kenny Chesney/Kieth Urban era.

I talked to a friend today who did the Marine Corps Marathon two weeks ago. When I had checked the results, I hadn't seen her name so I wondered if she had had something come up and had been unable to run. Turns out she had acquired her bib on the secondary market, after the time in which transfers were permitted. She said it was a great race, but that she cramped-up toward the end and didn't break five hours. The course goes by all the monuments and finishes at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington. I would have some interest in chasing a family runner or two for that event sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading.

Be careful out there.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Monday

3 has made her choice. I'll let her share at her leisure. It was a difficult decision. She did herself proud in all respects. Lots of stuff to get through before she starts next summer. These next few months should be a great time for her.

2 and I got our run in yesterday, but it was hard. I told her that I hated the feeling of not having run more than I normally hate running. We're running at least five days this week, even if it's only a two and a half mile jog. Just a couple of weeks now until the TT.

Lance nosed in just under three hours in the NYC marathon yesterday. Good for him. He had lots of supporters and an entourage pacing him to the finish. That's seven minute miles. He may not be a marathoner, but to do one in under three hours makes him a man.

2 and I had lunch at the Pebble Creek club house out by PV Junior High yesterday. Not bad. Nice place. 2 gave me a hard time about asking our waitress her name, but as I suspected, I did indeed know her family, and we had a nice little chat as a result.

1 completed her first day of freshmen girls basketball practice today. Go Coach Kate! She will give us some details as her first week of practice moves along.

4 got some new pics up on her site. I have yet to receive the instructions on how to get things up here.

Remember to vote tomorrow. And praise the lord that the campaign season is over!! Double ugh!

So I'm off to hit it with 2.

Be careful out there.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sunday

So this is very odd. My blog index does not show the Saturday entry, but when I hit the "View Blog" button, it's there. Hope this one makes it on the system.

The game in IC was a bust, at least game-wise. Iowa sleep-walked through the contest and Northwestern won 21-7. The game was not as close as the score indicates.

The suite deal was sweet. Really makes viewing the game the equivalent of going to the theater, with concessions at your fingertips, restrooms right there, none of the elements of weather, and easy viewing of replays, etc. The arrangement was very similar to the luxury box that I have been in at Arrowhead in Kansas City for the Chiefs' games.

The suite must be at an elevation of 10 stories or so. For someone a little afraid of heights, it was mildly disconcerting. I always felt like I was at the edge of canyon and was looking about straight down. I spent a lot of time at the back of the room watching the monitors. Which were on a 3-4 seconds delay. On the rare Iowa good plays, you could hear the roar of the crowd before the play was completed on the screen.

I was able to locate 4 in the student section by getting her on the phone and having her guide me to her seat. I could see her then wave at me, but the details of her face were a little beyond the strength of my eyes. We got to chat a little after the game, but our group was leaving and so it was just a short visit. There was a cash event in the visit, however.

The glitterari of Iowa businesses and education were all in the hallway outside the suite. Talked to the President of the U for a few minutes. Dr. D. from DM happened by and we had a nice chat. The Kum and Go people were next door.

My pal Roy can only handle the foo-foo so much. So we probably won't be back until a late game next year.

Which raises and interesting point. Last week, he and I hung out in the parking lot rather than actually going into the stadium. And we watched the game on the HawkVision replays. This week, we were in the suite, with no open-air access to the stadium. Could it be argued that we were at the game each of these last two weeks, but not really at the game?

So 2 and I are headed out for a run in a little bit. Then a little yard work. Lots of leaves out there right now.

3 remains in C-town. Visiting friends. Job decision still on the table.

Get out there and enjoy the day. And the week. Indian Summer is here.

Be careful out there.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Friday

No blog today.

I'll try to get an entry in before heading to IC tomorrow.

Have a great Friday evening.

Be careful out there.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Thursday

Big game in the Big East tonight. 2 undefeateds. West Virginia and Louisville. Who gives a hoot about the Big East?

The Bulls managed to return to reality pretty quickly. After that thumping of the Heat, they were able to lay their own egg in Orlando. 50-55 wins for them this year will be possible, but not if they can't keep the fire pretty hot.

I got my flu shot today. The Visiting Nurses had a diabetes event at that Northgate banquet hall by the Hy Vee down from the office, and they were doing flu shots on the side. Student nurses were pulling the trigger. One knew 3 from PV golf. I survived. I think they were glad to see me go.

The coffee group has begun to expand. There have been two or three somewhat irregulars in the past who have become almost daily attendees. What used to be a 4-5 person assembly, has often been 7-8 the last couple of weeks. SB's may start charging us a convention fee.

Seinfeld has been on a little more it seems in recent weeks. TBS and/or TNT go through cycles with the half hour comedies and they've been in a rut of Everybody Loves Raymond for way too long. I can't stand that guy. Or The King of Queens. Seinfeld looks to engage in adult humor. These other low rent shows look for for anything that might get a belly laugh.

Thanks to 4 for adding to her blog last night. Even though I detected a small element of negativity in her tone, there was at least an effort at wry humor in her words. Maybe the vitamins have already kicked in.

I see where NASA has now said it will schedule a shuttle mission for 2008 to service/fix/save the Hubble telescope. After the last shuttle disaster, the sentiment was that safety concerns would preclude a mission that was not going to have the Space Station as an emergency exit option. With a couple of incident-free missions, the shuttle mission to the Hubble is now back on the books. I know that there are scientific things that make this kind of exploration beneficial, but exactly how does that improve my life? Jobs for NASA contractors. Great pictures. Lots of theories.

I'm off to have my water meter changed. Have a great evening. Stay warm.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Wednesday

Funny day here. I was up at 4 bells to give 3 a wake-up call for her early departure to NYC. I never quite got back to sleep and I've been dragging all day.

I have a dinner meeting tonight and won't be able to get in my run with 2.

My pal Roy has the suite at the Iowa game on Saturday. We'll be living with the big shots.

4 needs to give us some material tonight. I have to go.

Be careful out there.