Thursday

Not sure I understand the math on these bowl games with no-name teams playing in front of 30K fans. Are the broadcast rights that good? What's the over-under for the Clones?

Had the substitute RCL yesterday. I know that she doesn't do quite as good of a job, but just getting the primary dusting and vacuuming done keeps the place from being an embarrassment.

Had a client come up with what I thought was an off-the-wall factoid this week as we began the application process for some new insurance. We had applied last year for a different policy and his health examination came back with extremely high cholesterol and we elected to not take the rated policy that was offered by the carrier. He had been on and off statin medication in the past.

Anyway, he found out recently that his daily consumption of grapefruit juice had negated the medical impact of the drug. He happened to be in my office Tuesday telling this story, at a time when my pal Pete was also there, and Pete said, "Oh yeah. My prescription has an avoid-grapefruit-products precaution on the label". And he showed us the bottle with that label.

I always thought that the source of my good health was my diet, heavy with veggies such as tomatoes, and various fruits, specifically grapefruit items. Who would have thunk that such things could work against a person?

Hope everyone enjoys a fun and safe New Year's Eve. A real good night to...

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a few lines today.

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The excitement in the office today is the kick-off of our new phone system. The desk units are in place and operational. Now the users have to figure out how it all works. At this point, the old precaution, "Be careful what you wish for; you may get it", is probably applicable. I even missed the training session yesterday, so I'm really out of the loop.
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After the markets closed, I flipped the TV to ESPN to catch whatever bowl game happened to be on. I was lucky enough (?) to see the start of the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl from Boise, Idaho. We could research a little about Roady's, but I have no interest. (Isn't a "roady" also known as a drink for the road?) The main claim to fame of the game is the blue carpet on the field. The first time I watch a TV game from that stadium, I spent 10 minutes trying to get the color on my set to adjust to the right colors. Who knew that the field was blue?

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And lastly, I was in a discussion yesterday with a friend about just who qualified as a good comedian in the movies these days. We struggled to name one. I can't stand Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler, and what can you say about Charlie "the mugger" Sheen, even before his latest escapade? (Is he nuts or what?) Slim pickens in my opinion.

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I'm off to Muscatine tonight to have a pre-New Year's Eve cocktail with friends.

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BCOT

Monday

This has always been a funny week. You have a little bit of the Christmas hangover, and the knowledge that you have a short week before the New Year's holiday. And we always have some client business that needs to be closed before the 31st. Makes for some interesting times.

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My Perfect Neighbor had snow-blowed my sidewalk and driveway by the time I pulled in from the TC last night. It looked like we had 4-5 inches here, compared to the 10-12 that they had up North. It is Winter.

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The traffic on I-80 last night in the stretch from Iowa City to Davenport was your typical holiday crush. The rudest drivers were the ones who pounded down the right lane when the left lane was stacked up waiting for a semi to make a pass or otherwise get over to the right lane, and then the jerk darts over into the left lane when he/she catches up to the slower vehicle in the right lane. I can see where Homer or Jethro might get a serious case of road rage if they were cut in on once too often.
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The Remington (Mountainman for the uninformed) is at home on the table behind my couch. Perfect. This ranks in the top five of All-Time-Best-Christmas-Presents, and will enjoy a similar ranking come my birthday, and Father's Day. (It certainly wins the Most Expensive category.) It might have a two-year run. (This may depend on whether 3 finds a good job in NYC in 2010.) For the record, the rider's name is "Johnson", and the horse's name is "Pilgrim". It was a bit ironic that the movie Jeremiah Johnson was on the AMC channel last night. The moon and stars continue in good alignment for LtPC.

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Almost forgot. Special recognition to 1 and 1.1 for their great work in hosting their first FFF at Christmas time. While we think that we are an easy crew to please, it's always a little more work than the guests may think, so "Here, Here!" to the folks on Woodduck. (And 1.1 did score some pretty fair tickets to the Wolve's game. Duh!)
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Still working on the blog math for the baby. I'm leaning toward 1.01.
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Does anyone care about the bowl games to date? I mean, what's not to like about the Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl? And we're not even half way home.
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I've got to admit that my experience in the fruit section at the grocery store lately has been a bit hit-and-miss. Had great oranges last week, high grade Granny Smith apples right before the trip North, and passable Texas grapefruit before that. The latest batch of oranges was something less than perfect. Dry almost. But I'm optimistic that the next batch will raise the bar.
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I've got to hit the hay. Another training session at seven bells. Think I'll do some treadmill before meeting the trainer. I hate to admit it, but I almost like the three miles I do these days. And I hate running.

BCOT

Sunday

Travel day. Successful for all. Great FFF memories.

Back to the Real World tomorrow. Short, but busy week for me.

BCOT

Saturday

Target Center - Minneapolis - December 26, 2009 - Wolves win!!

Friday

Merry Christmas to all!!!

4 made it to the TC this AM. Almost on time.

Still opening gifts. Lots of desserts yet to address. A slice of home made apple pie by 3 may be in my future.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Birthday to 4!!!

Lobbyl time for LtPC. Not doing the manicure with the rest of the fam. Maybe a walk with Winnie later.

Staying at a relatively new Sheraton just a mile or so from 1 and 1.1's place. Suite. Don't see a bowl of oranges and apples, but there is a Starbuck's coffee station. Really nice fitness room. Wi-fi throughout, plus a nice Business Center (with printer). Overall, a solid Four Stars on my hit parade.

Best wishes to all.

BCOT

Wednesday

Happy Tax Birthday to 4! You are Daughter of the Day. Didn't get this up as timely as I should have, but it's been quite the day.

We decided to make the trip to the TC a day early, and the normal 5-6 hour excursion became 8.5 hours of pure Winter conditions. They're talking big numbers for snow here for the weekend.

Research in Motion had some software problems yesterday and Blackberry users were off-line for a while. I was having some problems today on the road. I'm wondering if it was weather issues for me.

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Tuesday

The weather forecast remains iffy from now through Friday, so the local contingent is starting out tomorrow for the TC rather than waiting until Thursday. That at least gives us two days to get there if the roads turn ugly.

The morning workout with the trainer was a success. I have lots of upside. Another session early tomorrow after spin.

I'm thinking of giving a few sessions with my trainer to my pal Roy as my Christmas present to him. I'll have to pass the idea by our pal Cal (the surgeon) to make sure that it would fit into a fitness program suitable for Roy.

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A gift for Roy is appropriate since he dropped off a package for me today...a cashmere scarf from Burberry. I'll be wearing it regularly. It goes well with my European gentleman's bag.
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The NASCAR fans in the peanut gallery are cheering the naming of Jimmy Johnson as the Associated Press's Male Athlete of the Year. If the AP says, it's true, who can argue?
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And 4 can give props to Husker Nation for the appropriate distinction given to Ndamukong Suh as the AP's College Football Player of the Year. He may have won the award in the UT game where he made the Longhorn's offensive line look like shredded cheese.
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The wine for the now extended weekend will be the Murphy Goode Cabernet. The label says that it is a wine that packs a punch, exhibiting flavors of blackberry, cherry, bay and thyme with an oak profile of vanilla and toasted nuts. What's not to like?

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All for tonight. A little business meeting to attend, and then I need to pack. My equilibrium is a bit off with the earlier departure time.

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More tomorrow from the road. Safe travels to all.

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BCOT

Monday

Hello and Good-bye to the Winter Solstice. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere. Literally caused by the angle of the dangle. Of the earth's north-south axis as it rotates about the sun. From a biker's perspective, we certainly like those longer days come Summer time. Interesting that the progression is not exactly linear, or that the sunset or sunrise times hit their lows (or highs) on the same day. (Wikipedia can explain. I checked out even before I wrote that sentence.)

I always knew it as the First Day of Winter. Isn't a solstice the bread-and-milk treatment for a boil? Oops. That would be poultice. Sorry, Margret.

Anybody who thinks that the abomination known as Obamacare shortly to be passed by the Senate is anything but a pork-laden, back-room-tradin', tax-raisin', poor-excuse-for-governin' piece of crap, has sipped way too much of the Hope-n-Change koolaid. Not that I have any opinion on the matter.

Had my first oranges tonight. They had several different batches out at the store, at sale prices, which suggested to me that the crop must be in. They were pretty good. Much easier to peel than the Texas grapefruit that I had sampled each of the last few days. Love that great fruit. (As opposed to just grapefruit...Bah-da-bing!)

What about Public Service Announcements (PSA's) on radio? Who pays, and what's required of stations? If anything? The local FOX Sports station has a ton of PSA's on everyday. Almost at every commercial break. Either 1) they are very committed to the community, 2) they are required by law to air a certain number on a daily or weekly basis, 3) they get paid to air them, or 4) they have an overabundance of un-sold air time and they're filling space. My guess is that it's 4. Maybe our 4 can educate us.

First round with my personal trainer in the AM at 0700. Think I'll do the treadmill first. Meeting tomorrow night so the blog may suffer.

For the folks out there praying for us sinners, add the weather to this week's requests. The trip North looks a little sketchy for Thursday.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

No reason for not getting a decent post up today, but it just didn't happen.

2 had a little fender-bender just a couple of blocks from her house when some new snow slickened-up Locust Street and she missed her turn, then a following car couldn't avoid her's and banged into her rear end. Not much damage to the Focus, but the other car will be $1000+. A little Chevy HHR that looks like a PT Cruiser. Now a crunched-up HHR. (Does an easily crunch-able car constitute a lemon?) The good news is no tickets for either driver.

Actually, I had been reminded yesterday about how bad the City of Davenport takes care of it's side streets in the Winter when I went by 2's place to pick up Winnie for the afternoon. They just don't plow anything off the main drags, so all of the snow gets mashed down and the streets are nothing but ice. Put a little new snow on that hard-pack and all you get is trouble. It becomes impossible to stop. And the alley's are worse. Hang in there, Kiddo.

I actually did some shopping today. Not much, but a little. World's collide!!

Treadmill at Gold's this afternoon for 45 minutes. Wish that also meant five miles. Not! Early spin tomorrow.

I guess creativity doesn't come on Sunday either. Then again, it is, Biblically speaking, a day of rest.

Have a great week of Christmas preparations. Looking forward to these next few days.

BCOT

Saturday

Tough one-hour spin class this AM with my new favorite spin-Nazi, Kandi. Then a late morning and afternoon hangin' with Winnie. Which included a 20 minute romp in the Bettendorf dog park, and a two mile run/walk after a nap. She did pretty good in the dog park, playing around with several other dogs, all of varying sizes, but all quite a bit bigger than her. A return visit for sure.

So all the trash magazines and Entertainment Weekly media shows are releasing their Top Ten's of the decade. Same for the sports shows. My first problem is with the math. If it's the 9th year of the decade, is the 0 year understood as the first year of the decade? If that's the case, when we're celebrating a kid's ninth birthday, is it really his/her tenth? Frankly, I think that the whole problem is driven by the math-challenged left-wing liberal press.

I think that the person on top of almost every list, whatever the category, will be Cheetah Woods. (h/t to Revkev.) The guy has a variety of skills, and definitely the notoriety. Or maybe he's just notorious.

I heard on the radio this week an advertisement for a franchise-like deal for individual investors to own their own Redbox-like movie rental machines. The concept is for the investor to buy the machine and the movies (I guess), and then make a profit on the rentals. This is the kind of deal where the only person with the possibility of making any money is the guy selling the franchise rights and the hardware. I don't know what the entry fee is (or the use fees payable to the studios), but the buyer will likely never recover the original investment.

I remember a couple of clients from the early '80's who bought individual pay-telephone machines. At like $10K a pop. What could go wrong? I'm not saying that these kiosk things will go that same route, but I'd take the under.

A movie that I certainly refuse to consider for FFF is It's Complicated. Not only does the cast include at least three of my least-favorite thespians, the concept of middle-age sex farces is about as anti-erotic as it gets. Didn't they figure that out with Something's Gotta Give? I prefer Charlie's Angels or any of the Bond girls in my fantasies (Drew Barrymore, not withstanding).

In preparation for the Scottsdale golf trip, I have re-engaged my Gold's personal trainer for a few sessions before my January 6th departure. I have been entirely unsuccessful in getting myself started again on her exercise regimen, so I'm biting the bullet and paying for forced motivation.

Glad to see the Cub's dump Milton Bradley. He was a cancer on the team, and he didn't hit. Not hitting was the biggest problem. (Of course, even if he had hit, the team was so bad last year that they wouldn't have won enough to displace StL.) The window for the core of their current squad may be closing. And if they don't win in '10, Lou will be toast. (Any Grapefruit League plans for the TC crew this year?)

All for now. Headed out to raise heck in the QCA.

BCOT

Friday

Very low key Friday for me. After outings both Wednesday and Thursday nights, my system had little capacity for Tuscan red. Actually, maybe that wine that I had with our Christmas lunch today down at the Woodfire Grill put me over the edge. (This is the old Centro with no re-modeling. Decent wine list, but not much Tuscan to choose from in my price range. The selected alternative was a Malbec from Australia.)

I found out last night that my pal Pete is headed to Florida in early January for the Iowa game. It's a bit of a family thing as at least two of the boys and his brother from Hotlanta are going as well. Son Brett still has a lot of Hawkeye in his blood from those two years on the bball team. The Orange Bowl could be a nice respite from the Winter (if the good Hawks show up!)

Has the schedule for the FFF movie been set? Movie determined?

Maybe a spin class in the AM. Also plan to run Winnie for at least a couple of miles.

Hope 3 survives the storm in the forecast for the East coast. She's supposed to go to the Boston Pops tomorrow night. Very cool.

More thoughts on the season this weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Tax-Week B-day to 4!

My pal Pete had a small office party tonight at a Davenport spot and the star of the party was "Single N". (You have to understand that Pete had, and still has, two legal assistants named Diane and Dianne. Do the math.) Single N was assigned to do my secretarial needs when I sub-rented from Pete's law firm in the early '80's. She was a star, able to do things on an IBM Selectric Magcard machine that normal steno's only dreamed of. She continued to work for Pete full time until the early 2000's, and had done part-time stuff through earlier this year.

The bad news is that she had a stroke last Summer and has lost most of her ability to speak, and has only limited use of her right arm. She says, "Piece of Cake" as her response to almost every question or comment directed her way. Or "s--t" when she just can't get any other words out. It was a lot of fun to see her out, and even though it is sad to see struggle with the small things, the reality is that she is doing well with what she has. Her situation reminds me a little of Daddy in his last few months. Single N was a VIP in my life in those early days of my business. Tonight reminded me that she still is.

There was a story on the wires today that the last bookstore in Laredo, Texas has closed. It was significant because Laredo became the largest town in the country without a bookstore. I really didn't read the particulars, but the economics of a bookstore are not good. Not with Amazon.com, Wally World, and all the other big boxes selling everything at deep discounts. Why invest in the bricks and mortar? Plus, the socio-economic make-up of the local population can limit interest in the intellectual pastimes. Maybe Aunt Martha has a solution.

On a very strained tangerine comparative...uh, make that a tangential comparative, what about the Salvation Army kettle business? These guys are dying an increasingly slow death. How do you get them to gather revenue from the plastic society? They're ring bells in front of Walgreen's, the grocery store and the mall. For nickels and dimes. They need another shtick.

Glad tomorrow is TGIF. Looking forward to the weekend. I mean, I really want to go Christmas shopping.

BCOT

Wednesday

1 is being a bit testy in evaluating my travel schedule, maybe, eh? Then again, I have to admit that when I finally registered for the program, I knew that I would be subject to some second-guessing. January 17 -20. Just don't go running around the block that week!

Early spin today. Not an easy choice with the cold temperatures. But I'm headed down to Muskie for dinner tonight, and I needed the workout. Big turn-out for the class, including a guy who has been there a couple of times now who swaps out the peddles on the bike for his own!!! He comes in with the wrench to do it! And his cadence is like three times mine. In race pace, he's a blur. I'm thinking that he belongs at a higher-skilled class. If not, it's a good act.

The new teeth are good, but feel a little strange. I elected to do a one-week trial before he cements them in for the duration. Sitting in the chair for the installation, followed by x-rays and cleaning brought back the not-so-good memories of the long sittings for braces in middle school (including the pulling of four teeth), and the various efforts to establish a good cosmetic solution to the front teeth from college through my late thirties. I have paid the dentist well in my time.

Maybe more later. Or not.

BCOT-

Tuesday

Cold! Cold! Cold!

I go to the dentist first thing tomorrow to finalize the replacement of my top front teeth bridge. The preliminary work was done right after Thanksgiving, and I have had a temporary appliance in for the last couple of weeks. Not cheap and not pain-free. But I needed an upgrade, and the insurance coverage required a before-year-end transaction. The new pearly-whites will be on full display in the TC in 10 days.

I registered for a conference in Orlando in late January. The early-registration discount ended today and I finally convinced myself to make the commitment. Don't really like Florida. Orlando in particular. Way too much congestion and way too many kids. And I've stayed away for several years. But the conference is timely and the travel costs are reasonable. Warm weather in January covers several negatives.

Here's a little quiz: When it comes to current events, politics, world affairs and Big Business, who do you believe? The politicians on either side of the aisle are a joke. Network newsers? Below awful. Cable? Spare me. NPR and the NYT? Com'on. FOX and MSNBC? Shut 'em down. Is there anyone out there reporting (or making) the news without an agenda?

Still working on Plan B for my Christmas shopping. 2 has volunteered to help.

Any wine orders for FFF in the TC?

I'll try for more creativity tomorrow.

BCOT

Monday

A bit of a funny day. Early spin. Then Monday stuff. After work, an attorney friend from C-town came in for dinner and drinks. He has some meetings in town tomorrow. We did the high end for pre-meal cocktails at Biaggi's, but finished with ribs at the old Kelly's Bar by St. Ambrose. Very cool.

I had lunch with my pal Roy today (at the new Kelly's on 53rd Street), and made the prediction that Iowa wouldn't win five games in the conference this year, and would win zero conference games on the road. That's a pretty rough future for the Hawks. This situation at the same time that former coach Steve Alford's New Mexico team is undefeated and in the Top Twenty-five this week. Ouch.

Paul Samuelson died yesterday at age 94. His Economics 101 text was used by colleges throughout the country. It was the standard at ND. The book was frequently revised and the joke was that the questions stayed the same, they just had to change the answers. So you had to buy the new revision rather than last year's edition. The money machine worked back then too.

Another birthday noted in the news recently was that of country music singer (and newly crowned CMA Entertainer of the Year) Taylor Swift. She turned 20. I have found that her work, while appealing to the younger set, is a bit uninspiring to me. Her high school angst at lost love rings a little hollow to a guy with Sometimers.

On the subject of Christmas cards, I remember sending a few to adult friends in my USAF years. These would have been the parents of high school or college friends. Specifically, I remember writing on the cards as a personalized greeting, the quote from the song White Christmas: "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmas's be white." I mean how lame was that? And the recipients were probably saying, thanks LtPC, but, uh, we really have no need for snow. Duh!

OK. To bed.

BCOT

Sunday

Calm before the storm. Weather headed back into the deep freeze in the next couple of days.

High praise to the extended family for the picture Christmas cards that I have received in the last few days. In particular, the KC full-family pic is a keeper. Newsflash in response; no such USPC seasonal greetings scheduled from LtPC.

If a running back deserved the Heisman, the guy from Stanford shoulda got it. Maybe if ND had been something more than a laughing stock when he had the big game against them a couple of writers would have re-directed their votes. (We let sports writers determine the best college football player? And these are the guys that know how to fix the BCS?)

How cool is it that the TV channels (all of them, really) set up showings of the NFL games in the war zones for the deployed GI's? They keep giving some live look-ins from Iraq of some Minnesota National Guard troops right now watching the Vikings-Bengals game. Similar to the effort that I noted here last Summer of David Feherty on the PGA tour. Hat tip to all.

My RCL left me a Christmas gift last week (as it was her last time here until mid-January). She's headed back to Milan, Italy to visit family. I told her that I wanted her to take the extra $20 I left for her to enjoy an extra bottle of vino while there. OK, a bottle. I didn't say how expensive of a bottle! Anyway, her gift to me was a box of four Pinot Noir glasses. Like the one here to the left. I think she's smart enough to know the other glasses that I have and wanted to expand/diversify my inventory.

My best wine glasses are Cabernet glasses like the one here to the right. Which makes sense as I current favorite wine is the Cabernet. But when home, I usually drink out of some very blue-collar, heavy-duty, stemless highball glasses.

I make this somewhat elongated description to give the necessary background to a contention by the owner of The Grape Life that the tastes of the different varieties of wine are best delivered if consumed out of the proper glasses. I'm a doubter, but I think I'll conduct some detailed experiments over the next year or so. I've got the glasses.

The same wine (semi) expert used an aerator to pour from a freshly uncorked bottle when I was in the shop last week. A new experience for me. The concept is to simulate decanting, to allow the wine to "breathe" before drinking. (We decant at Biaggi's if it's one of those nights where there are lots of people and multiple bottles of wine.) I might be a believer in this one, but more research is required. (I might be able to double-up on the glasses experiment noted above.)

Augie got throttled last night down at Wash U in StL. They're rated #1 in DIII (and are the two-time defender National champs). With Gonzaga and WashU now behind us, we'll see if this young team can find some traction against less-august competition.

I did talk with the Commissioner last week and the 2010 Clan Bash is set for the weekend of July 9-11. No formal proceedings are scheduled at this point, and no hall rental is anticipated. The Commish's house will be Reunion HQ. Details will emerge. LtPC and family will likely target dates in the 8th - 18th to capture two weekends.

So I'm out to get a couple of things done. Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Saurday

Just a few lines in some extra time before my client meeting in Waterloo.

It's been a busy week for me. And for Tiger and Brian Kelly. My guess is that Tiger will stay in the weeds for several months. Maybe not even play in The Masters, which would be a huge statement. Once he comes back, and if he wins a few tournaments, he will crawl back up the respectability pole. If he doesn't win, his legacy will be the girl friends. At least they were mostly hotties.

I think Kelly will be successful at ND. He has a college coaching pedigree and he has shown that he can win. I hope he has a a good defensive coordinator in mind.

There's been more snow up in this area. They said that the Iowa basketball team had to stay over night here after their game with UNI earlier in this week. Still lots of cars and trucks in the ditches. (Had to bring the Buick out of the garage for the trip. I'll rinse her down once I get back home.)

I had a "Letter to the Editor" published in today's local paper. I had written a short critique of a small headline article that they had run in Monday morning's Sports Section that featured a very sexy color picture of Blake Lively (who was the SNL host on Saturday). My position was that the paper had jumped at the opportunity to run some skin that had no direct bearing on the topic. It wasn't even a picture from the SNL spoof, just one of her stock fashion photos. This is the paper that I have always said would run a photo of "Man bites Dog" everyday on page one if they had the photo.

Take Navy and give the points.

Got to head to my meeting. More later.

BCOT

Wednesday

So Winter has arrived. They are predicting blowing and drifting this afternoon and below zero temps tonight.

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Augustana plays Gonzaga tonight. The game is supposed to be televised on Direct TV channel 687 (which is a Fox Sports regional station). Anything less than a 25 point loss will be a victory.

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The Turkey Trotters may be interested to know that the post-race photo at SB's is up on the website, www.criteriumfinancial.com. I know the company 's owner.

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We'll probably end up closing early today. Since I did 0545 spin this morning, I'll be able to add some more here before the game starts.

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For those of you dealing with the weather,...

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B-particularly-COT

Sunday III

A pretty good result. The BCS did okay for the Hawks.

BCOT

Sunday II

A message from 4 in Lincoln: The back yard in June, and the backyard today. Hello December!

Another afternoon with Winnie. 2 had business at the museum. The spin class this AM was hard, but I still did almost three with W this afternoon. Walking (mostly). She has a lot of energy.

(My pal Pete has joined Gold's for the Winter so that he can join in the spin classes. Today was his first one. While he has ridden the programmable bikes at the fitness center, this was his first time in a class. He was impressed, and not by just the female talent in the group.)

Thanks to SRH for some work today to clean the carpet from the spill at FFF last week. Pretty well erased, but there is probably a professional cleaning contract for the full upstairs in my future.

Another entry later to opine on the BCS selections.

BCOT

No Christmas lights, but I did get the electric extension cord run from the garage to the front of my house. If the snow holds off, I may get the strands up before the actual holiday.

Sunday

Winnie and I did three miles yesterday. After she took a hunk out of my wrist while putting on her harness. This is a pic off of my phone which I sent over to my Yahoo email. Wirelessly. With both the phone and laptop on just battery power. Amazing.

Spin in a while and then finally getting my carpet shampooed after the plant-dumping accident from the FFF event last week. Maybe even throwing up a couple of strands of Christmas lights later. (Or not.) And firing up the snowblower for possible use later this week. A busy day.

Another race angle in the Tiger saga that never occurred to me was a concern expressed in a story today that his flings all involved white women. There are now rules for politically correctness in extra-curricular activities?

The local fishwrap (like all papers, I suppose) is about triple the size of ordinary times with all the ads included for the holiday shoppers. It has to help the papers' economics since there's no real increase in news content, just volume from the inserts. Their real prize is when they charged the $2 Sunday price for the Thanksgiving paper which had nothing but ads in between about three news stories of turkey receipes. You gotta make hay while the sun shines.

Speaking of economics. At the wine shop that we visited last night (The Grape Life), we bought a bottle and drank it there. It's one of those places that is set up to buy and go, or to taste and drink there. You could bring in your own sandwiches for lunch or dinner too. Kind of low-end wines. None that I saw for as much as $30.

So anyway, we buy one of their more expensive Cabernets for $27. With a $7 corking fee. The staff pours the wine. OK. So when we settle up to leave, I pay with a couple of twenties and tell the gal(who I know is the owner) to keep the change. Did the owner just triple dip? Profit in the wine purchase. Corking fee. Tip. It's a little like tipping the owner of a hair salon. What's the proper protocol? Miss Manners, where are you?

More later.

BCOT

Saturday

Saturday at SB's.

Does it mean that you are a "Regular of Influence" when the store manager comes over and asks if it's ok if they move the soft chairs a little further into the store to facilitate customer traffic? Not saying that our group has pull, but then again, we certainly have more seniority than any of the baristas.

There's a little Winnie in my future today. 2 has a full day of class, so I'm taking my favorite Carin terrier on my run after lunch. I'm waiting until the temp gets above 30 before I take off.

This morning's local paper had a story about the period section of town called the Village of East Davenport's annual Christmas Walk last night. That's when many of the stores have live displays in their windows of people in historical dress performing holiday-type activities from that era. I always take a small amount of humor in the event from my participation in it years ago. When our group was a fixture at the front table in the McClellan Stockade on Friday nights, we stepped up to perform as the town party-ers for the touring crowds. It was an easy act.

More here later. Off to pick up Winnie.

BCOT

Friday

Second day of Tax School 2009. Day 2 is almost as exciting as Day 1. (I did take a pass on the first two hours on Ethics this AM. Spin at Gold's was the optional activity.)

The temperature high today will be below freezing for the first time this season. This will drive those averages down.

I admit to being a little curious about the ND coaching search. There's been lots written by lots of hacks/pundits/experts, and, given the Seinfeld Rules of the Internet (any opinion needs no verification/authentication), it's hard to measure at this point. I do like the guy from UConn, and not much for the guys from Cincy and Wisconsin. We've already had a failure from Stanford.

Hard to ignore the news on Tiger. It will die down, I think, but he will remain a talk-show punch line for a long time. Can you say Hugh Grant? The best term I have heard to describe his actions is reckless. Check out the cover of next month's Golf Digest. They say timing is everything. My guess is that such a generalization belongs on yesterday's list of no-longer-truisms.

Speaking of gratuitous accusations of racism, how long do you think it would take Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson/the Political Black Caucus/The Huffington Post and a host of others to play the race card if the guy holding the club in the photo happened to be a Caucasian banker from Goldman Sachs?

It looks like Iowa is battling Penn State for an at-large BCS bid. It's a beauty contest since the Hawks won the face-to-face meeting. Does the aura of Joe Pa outshine the traveling herd of bumble bees? Expected TV ratings as determined by the BCS bowl folks will carry the day. And the conventional wisdom is that PSU has a bigger national following than Iowa. With the Hawks being uniformly described by national media as a combination of lucky and from a weak conference, the Capital One Bowl looks likely to me.

I think I've had enough education for today. TGIF is calling.

Have a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Coming to you today from a continuing education conference. At least I'm not wasting my time doing crossword puzzles. This particular one is being held in a big meeting room at the iWireless Center in Moline. They have a pretty good room for this kind of thing (I'm guessing 250+ are here), except for some bearing columns that obscure some sight lines. The material is less than inspiring.

I did Twitter last night in recognition of my first 2009 Christmas party. My pal Cal was host for his office (and guests) at the club in Muskie. Good time had by all.

The Group of Four from last January in Scottsdale (Roy, Cal, Bobby D and LtPC) is scheduled to make a return visit next month from the 6th to the 10th. Three rounds at desert courses. It's not about the golf.

I guess it's fair to say that Tiger didn't get the Big O pass from the media. Several lessons here:

1. If you want to mess around, it's best to stay away from reality TV wannabees.
2. Rule 1 also applies to club girls, club hostesses and other similar socialites.
3. Text messages do not automatically erase.
4. Rule 3 also applies to recorded messages.
5. TMZ and their ilk will out anyone or anything.
6. Money always matters.
7. Very few good things happen after midnight.
8. Some things in Vegas don't stay in Vegas.
9. Going Viral on the Internet is now defined.
10.Below radar, invisible and other such terms are no longer relevant.

We've had a substantial downturn in temps here today. Lows are forcasted for the teens the next couple of nights. Snow flurries when I was out for lunch. It is December. Margret may be done for the year.

All for now. More later.

BCOT

Tuesday

Didn't realize the interest in this pic!

BCOT

Monday

These are just a sampling of our FFF from the weekend. I used an anti-redeye option on the software to try to soften the glare from the mini-digi's flash. We'll do better at Christmas.

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More later.

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BCOT

Sunday

The pics from the weekend will have to wait another day. Since we really never "did pictures", I'm going to have to put the candids on my desktop and use the photo-adjust function to get rid of some red eye and extraneous background clutter. Stay tuned.

Under the presumption that 4 gets back to Lincoln shortly (and 3's flights tomorrow work out), it's fair to say that the Thanksgiving weekend in the QCA was a success. Lots of good food, relaxation and FFF.

My earlier prediction of a 6-6 ND (when they were 6-3) came to fruition. Now the parties need to do the dance and send Weis on his way to the NFL. With his pockets full. Make it quick. The trouble is that they need to get a guy in there who can break the chain: Davie to Willingham to Weis doesn't exactly inspire greatness.

Does Tiger get the same media pass as the Big O?

One of the revelations that comes out of a weekend like this where we spend a lot of time together, and the girls get into wide ranging conversations, is that I have very little clue about what goes on in the culture of 20-30 year-olds. Whether it is music, movies, TV, Internet connections, or any of the topics that might come up in their chats, it's just obvious that I live in another world.

I put my BBQ away for the season this afternoon. And all my garden hoses. Does that mean Winter is nigh?

3 went with me to spin class this AM. I'm thinking that for the next six weeks or so that I'll just do the Sunday and Wednesday classes to keep a base in cycling. I'll wait until mid-January before I get serious about cycle conditioning for the 2010 season. I've got plenty of other exercise equipment in my personal gym to keep me busy in the mean time.

One of the other things that did come out of the weekend is that our crew collectively wants to get the clan's 2010 Tahoe reunion set on the calendar. Keeping in mind that some of us plan to stay a week or more, later in July seems to be the preference. We all have scheduling considerations, but the sooner we can set the date, the better. I'll call Tahoe Phil to get the ball rolling.

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Friday

Here's our post-Trot shot at SB's. It was a successful day for all the runners. LtPC came home in 57:33 chip time, so I over-trained!! 2 was my co-pilot and did a great job of keeping me on track. Thanks , Kiddo.

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4 was the Official Photog for the event, but those pics are on the other camera. I'll post any worth viewing later today.

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3 made it in for the post-race coffee event. Her flight was pretty much on time. (I was glad to hear that she had an 0655 departure from Beantown rather than that 0600 flight, which would mean an extra early oh-dark-hundred wake-up call for a girl who prefers to get her sleep.)

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SRH was the star of the mid-afternoon meal. Turkey with all the fixin's. Lots of grazing the rest of the day.

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The office is casually open today. The staff is off, and I'm hanging out until the market closes. A little down-turn on news from the mid-East. Can you say Dubai? How do you say, "Real estate can only go up" in Arabic?

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Now off to Chilli's for FFF lunch with the shoppers.

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BCOT

Monday

Again, no strong excuse for my absence here. Just never quite got in the mood to sit down at a computer yesterday.


Iowa City was pretty tame on Saturday. It was nice for mid-November, but still a little too cool to be pure party time. By the end of the game, we were ready to fire up the car and get some heat going. It was one of the more boring games that I have attended in a long time. The highlight was a goal-line stand by the Iowa defense. With more punts than total points between the teams, and like 300 yards of total offense, raking leaves would have been more exciting.

My earlier post on Charlie Weis at ND is coming home to roost. A loss this coming Saturday at Stanford, and you have a 6-6 record. Who would have thunk it? While ND may not have the most talent out there, they have enough that a good college coach should be able to get 9-10 wins against their current schedule. I mean, Navy got beat by Temple who lost to Villanova who lost to New Hampshire. Whatever. At this point, I've lost interest.

1 is very excited about Joe Mauer being named American League MVP today. He is a stud. Will they be able to keep him in the TC?

2 and I did a pass-through to the Augie game on Saturday night. The competition wasn't that good, and we left at half with the home boys up by 20+. I repeat my earlier evaluation: these guys could be pretty good by the end of the year. Lots of horses. They'll wear most teams down. But probably not Gonzaga when they play there in a couple of weeks.

I do my last training run for the TT tonight. A very light workout tomorrow night. Spin on Wednesday AM. And then it's Showtime. The Danny Sheridan line on me making it home in under an hour just moved to +120 seconds which means that "the house" thinks my time will be 62 minutes plus a second. On that analysis, take the under.

I'll get back to this after I do my run.

BCOT

Thursday

Wednesday November 18, 2009.

Chicago.

Life In The Fast Lane!

I want to provide some more details on the trip to C-town. I've edited this a couple of times as Blogger keeps messing with me on the size of print after that original posting of the first picture. If there are some Word protocols that they follow here, I haven't figured them out.

How did the timing work out? Pretty suite. No trouble with the flight. Departed Davenport around 1530. The driver was waiting for us at the private terminal at Midway (Are you Bill?), and he got us through traffic to the Near North area for pre-dinner cocktails at Kiki's French Bistro.

What was it all about? The four of us were celebrating our 25th year in business together. My pal Bill and I wanted to do something way out of the ordinary.

And the planning? All Bill and myself. The girls were not told anything other than that we would be going out to celebrate with a nice dinner. Bill may have got a little help from a friend who does some party planning. LAM and TDS claim that they were totally surprised when we drove up to the Davenport airport.

And the private plane? Well, we wanted to do something out of the ordinary. It's not like it was the jet or anything. We chartered the cheapest King Air in my pal Roy's fleet. It seats like eight or nine. Took about 40 minutes from Davenport to Midway.

Dinner? We ate at what I would call a medium high-end place call "mk" in the 800 block of North Franklin. I'd say the food was ok (notice the lower case), and the wine was excellent. We couldn't tarry, as we had a 7:30 show to catch at the Apollo Theater in the 2500 block of North Lincoln Avenue.

And the show? Worth the price of admission. The Million Dollar Quartet. One of the more enjoyable live events that I have been to in a while. We were about six rows up, center stage in a 40% full 450 person theater. See chart attached.Google the name for some details, as the show is based on a real event. It's probably got some legs for theaters on the coasts.

The homeward leg of the trip? Piece of cake. The driver (different guy and vehicle, same "Are you Bill" question) was waiting for us outside the theater. Easy trip (with no traffic at that hour) to the airport. Our pilot was waiting, and we were in the air in about 10 minutes. Another 40 and we were back home.

So that's about it. Sorry for doing a "What I did today" entry, but the event was worthy of recording. Another element in what has been a great year for Lt. PC.

Now with a return to normalcy, let me just say...

BCOT

Wednesday

Short entry today. My pal Bill and I are taking our two assistants who have been with us now over 25 years out for the evening. Detail and pics to follow tomorrow.

Winnie and I did a 3 mile run last night and she shows signs of being a good workout companion. Also signs of the carefree puppy.

I manage to partially unhook Winnie harness after the run, and unbeknownst to me, she chewed through one piece rendering the harness useless. I gave 2 a $10 bill to buy a replacement. Since when does dog-sitting cost the sitter? Then SRH told me that she had picked up the harness at Wally World for $3 bucks! So 2 makes $7 on the deal? No wonder 4000 Days ain't getting shorter!!

2 did confess that my Sunday entry had her hooked until the end. How do you spell "easily swayed"?

My front landscaping is 75-80% complete. I think that the the prairie flower stuff and mulch will wait till Spring. Pic to follow.

Now headed out for the evening. Can you say, "Private plane to C-town"?

BCOT

Monday

Hawks ahead.

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Hawks behind.

Sunday

So I missed the official anniversary day of the blog. Not a bad day. Just didn't prioritize.

Thought it was time to move on from the Italy pictures. This is a shot from our last official FFF in StL last Summer. We need some new material from the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

A reporter named Rhonda Michaels (not her real last name) from the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette called me yesterday afternoon to follow-up on a lead that she had received from a guy I knew in Chicago a couple of lifetimes ago. The paper was running a series on former Arthur Andersen accountants and somehow my name had come up. They had done a Google search and, remarkably (actually, shockingly to me), had found 4000 Days. (The story on how they got my cell number really doesn't wash, but I'm not quibbling on that one.)

The long and the short of Ms. Michaels' inquiry was a dead end for her AA & Co story: I had no knowledge of the guys who were still in the C-town office when the Enron thing exploded. But we had a nice conversation comparing dates, places and used-to-be's, and then we started comparing experiences in blogging. She had scanned some of the history recorded in 4000 Days, and she asked if I would respond to some questions for possible use in another personal-interest story in her file. As best as I can recall, here's the gist of that part of the conversation:

RM: So I've read various entries on 4000 Days, but I'm not sure that I have a handle on it's purpose. Can you fit it into a broad topical category?

LtPC: It's primarily a family gig. My kids have been out of the house (and mostly out of town) for many years, and I felt pretty detached from their lives. I literally stumbled on the blogsphere about five years ago, and they say, the rest is history.

RM: And the title?

LtPC: It just came to me. I'd been looking at the calendar, trying to realistically figure out when I might be able to retire, and at that time, 10 years seemed like the closest round number. 10 Years didn't have much of a ring to it, nor did 3650 Days. Since early retirement, whatever the date, didn't seem likely, 4000 Days won out.

RM: So how does that math look today?

LtPC: Four years down now means that I'm a little less than 40% home from the original estimate. That's still ballpark. But, retirement? Who knows. I doubt if I fully retire for a long time. Unless the Powerball comes home. (And you have to play to win. Which I don't.)

RM: Do you have a writing schedule?

LtPC: Not really. When I first started, I tried to write everyday. But for the last couple of years, I've been lucky to get in entries three to four times a week.

RM: And your topics?

LtPC: I haven't checked, but I used to have plenty to say about cycling, NASCAR, and miscellaneous other sports. I've backed off much of any extended commentary in those categories because I don't think my (few) readers have a lot of interest in those things. The same now with politics.

RM: But isn't a blog supposed to be the perfect forum for an author to express his/her opinions?

LtPC: True. But that gets into the debate of the "why and what" for the author. Lots of times, opinions on hot topics like politics, religion, social issues and the like can impede otherwise good relationships. And check the ratings: not a lot of folks out there care about the ascent up Mt. Ventoux, or the RPM's in the 24 car.

RM: For what it's worth, I have no clue what you just said. So what's been the best part of your blog?

LtPC: I like the daily contact with my daughters. I like the outlet for that creative gene that never quite succumbed to the technical deluge in graduate school and my business career. I like turning a couple of good sentences into a paragraph, and a few paragraphs into something cogent. About something.

RM: What is your biggest challenge when you open an entry?

LtPC: There's always a form of Writer's Block with which to deal. I prefer to do something original as opposed to just recount my day (usually very boring). I like humor from my daily life, and I draw upon my relationships with several very good friends. My pals, Pete, Roy, Bill, and occasionally Jake can make things interesting.

RM: But isn't that just more of "What I did today"?

LtPC: It can be, but my friends and I manage to present some trials and tribulations worth a little recognition. We are not a mensa group.

RM: What's the deal with the numbers 1,2,3, and 4?

LtPC: Uh, that's not showing your best investigative reporter traits, Ms. Michaels. It's not much of a secret that those are my anonymous names for my four daughters, by birth order. I generally avoid the use last names here, and for the girls, not even their first names. The blogsphere is a dangerous place.

RM: So have you had any problems of that nature?

LtPC: Nope. You're the wildest hare I've encountered. Although Bob Costas was a little sketchy on the flight back from Europe.

RM: OK then. I've got a deadline to meet. One last question. What do you see for the future with 4000 Days? Any new ideas?

LtPC: My goal is to keep at it. To keep coming up with some original ideas that will make my narrow readership smile. Maybe even lol (...:)) occasionally. It keeps that almost-daily contact going, and gives Dear Old Dad the illusion that he still matters. And it feeds the bandit gene that has never quite left the frontal lobe. I may even write about this interview.

RM: Thanks for your time. We have a great wine bar in Ft. Wayne next to the paper. Let me know if you're ever in town. I have an aunt who might be available.

LtPC: As long as she doesn't read the New York Times. Stay in touch. You can always comment here.

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There you have it. Another reader who just couldn't tear herself away.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Thursday

Just a "Twitter-like" entry tonight. After work, I became the "Winnie sitter" for the evening. We did a three-mile run-walk, that didn't tire her out near as much as it did me. And we watched a little of the Bears' game and CSI. She's a fun companion, but has lots of energy. Maybe too much for an old guy.
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My pal Roy is in the hospital with a case of pneumonia. He had felt bad all week, and finally our pal Doctor Cal took some action by admitting him last night. He was much better this afternoon (after a lot of drug-therapy), and should be discharged tomorrow. Is pneumonia better/worse than H1N1?
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We signed a contract at the office this week for an entirely new telephone system. We'll have the standard features of direct-dialing for incoming calls to specific people, cordless headsets and handsets for several of us, and integration with our Outlook for messages and transfers. Hope to be up and running before Christmas. Cool stuff.
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So looking forward to TGIF. Have been all week.

BCOT

Wednesday

So I dug out some of my old USAF uniform stuff to wear over to the Arsenal later today. I've worn the shirt on an occasional basis over the last few years. Found the silver Lt. bars, but haven't located the blue, plastic nameplate. I'll keep my eyes out for it over the next year.

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My office computer still has a virus. The IT vendor has been trying to isolate and remediate the bug remotely over the last couple of days, and the worm has proven to be very illusive. (The service provider has a "Go To Meeting" -like linkage which gives the tech access to my machine from afar.) Not real dastardly at this point, but a nuisance. It's cookie allows pop-ups to enter just about anytime that I'm on the Internet. I'm pretty sure that the bug was attached to a blue email that I received from one of my better clients last week.

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There will be a small celebration here on the blog later this week as I pass the four year anniversary for 4000 Days. My recollection is that I started this with a 10 year projection to some kind of retirement, and rounded the 3650 total to 4000 for presentation purposes. Four times 365 + 1 (for the Leap Year day) equals 1461, which, when divided by 4000 equals 36.5%. Not sure what that statistic means.

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The media vulchers are circling the football offices in South Bend. Can't say that I am all that troubled by this development. The guy can't beat anyone with a winning record, and I don't think that it is now a question of on-the-field talent. I mean, Navy? (Don't get me wrong; I never cheer against the military academies.) And given the records of their next three opponents, and the passion that those opponents will bring to the games, a 6-6 final record is not that much of a stretch. Certainly if that is the final result, Charlie Weis will be gone. And deservedly so.

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Augie's b-ball season (and one of my main Winter pastimes) opens tonight with a controlled scrimmage against Loras College. They start playing for real next Monday. I had toyed with going to their game at Gonzaga in December, but that is just not going to happen.

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More here later.

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BCOT

Tuesday

Remember tomorrow.

BCOT

Lt. PC