Sunday

Congrats to 1.1 on his completion of the Des Moines marathon. He deserves another, "You 'da man!" Although, really, doing two marathons in a month suggests a need for a sanity check-up.

3 and 4 can crow for the week with the Hawkeyes' win at Wisconsin yesterday. The way that Iowa plays, every game is an adventure, but if they keep at it, they have a chance each Saturday.

The Irish played well and came close to USC, but with the loss they now need to book their rooms for the Outback/Gator/Sun/Boise/Whatever Bowl. Whoopie.

I feel badly that we haven't had a proper celebration for 3's birthday. She was in NYC beginning Thursday night, and she had a full schedule for the weekend. We need to make this up to her at our next FFF.

2 was over for a very laid back Friday night and we shared a bottle of Italian red that was bottled in a town that we actually spent some time in last month. Peschiera. A small town West of Verona, near Lake Garda. It was a bottle that I picked up at Hy Vee last week. Not bad.

I'm back at Gold's on a semi-regular basis. Part jogging. A couple of spin classes per week. Just trying to get ready for the Turkey Trot. Occasionally wondering about a plan for 2010.

Here's a thought: when you're mind is working, what tense does it spend the most time in? This concept came to me this morning at spin class when the instructor kept talking about where we were on her imaginary ride. Regardless of her chatter, the only thing I was thinking about was my trek in the Alps last month. She would be talking about accelerating to the crest. I was remembering how I was just trying to get in another 100 meters before I had to rest again.

Anyway, the question of where you spend your thinking time is pretty interesting. Just about everything you do, all of your personality traits, and lots of intangibles influence this allocation. When you're real young, it's always the present, and the future. For the older crowd, the past seems to be stronger. And for the big segment covering the balance of the crowd, the meter is all over the place.

When you live alone, you have lots of time to think. (I suppose living alone is not necessarily a control factor, as people living unhappily together may spend a lot of alone time together.) Anyway, on a daily basis, I bet I spend more time in the present and in the future, than in the past. I do have those thoughts of previous times and events, but planning the next thing, scheduling the work week, trying to remember what I forgot at work so I can get it done the next day, doing the blog, watching a game, and the like, make it a forward-dominant perspective.

But why do I remember my high school girl friend's birth date? And my first shot at the state basketball tournament in 1967? That list of stuff goes on. And I won't even mention the stories noted here last week with my pals Pete and Jake. Whatever.

Looks like a good week here. Hope it is in your world too.

BCOT