Friday

So I've been off line for a few days as I have recovered from the April 15th due date.  Then there was the dash to the Twin Cities for 1.01's baptism.  And an attempt to get a biking schedule established.  Lousy excuses for not writing, but it is was it is.

Here's a little three-generation shot from the baptism.  1.01 was a star.  1 has indicated that the excitement of the days over that weekend made 1.01 sleep most of the nights.  Not the worst result.

This past Monday, I joined with three of my pals for a little golf outing for the PV school district Foundation.  The weather was great compared to prior years when we had snow, rain and wind.  We even had our jackets off for parts of this round.

I end up doing at least a couple of these charity outings each year, but I turn down most requests (and just send a check).  The formats are almost always "scrambles" which are essentially a "best-ball" competitions.  The events are set up as fund-raisers and winning is usually just a conversational topic.  But some teams get very motivated to score.  In the Monday event for example, we played pretty well, finished 8 under par, and trailed the winners by 11 strokes!  Do the math.  A round of golf has only 18 holes.

So yes, I did get a lock on my house after all these years.  The motivation was/is an assumed theft on Monday night of my not-so-smart phone.  While I was downstairs changing for bed.  I keep going over the facts, but I haven't been able to come up with a more rational explanation for the phone's disappearance.  Unless the phone walked off my counter or kitchen table on it's own, or fell into an unknown chasm in my kitchen, it was lifted by an uninvited guest.  Bummer.

I had my handiman put a new dead-bolt on my back door yesterday after failing to find a functional key for any of my existing locks.  I mean I looked in every nook and cranny, junk drawer and collection dish in the house to no avail.  Of course, last night when I was sliding the new key on to my keyrings, I did find the missing key.  I mean, why would it be on my key ring?  Now I'm curious of at least one other key on the ring for whose purpose I am clueless. 

I'm pretty sure that this has taken me past Sometimer's Disease.

Bike planning is now on Page One of the leaderboard of LtPC's schedule.  Mileage needs to go up on the weekends if the TOMRV ride in early June is going to be something less than painful.  That's 85 to Galena on Saturday, and again on the Sunday return ride, maybe.  (Keep in mind that I haven't done the Sunday portion of TOMRV for several years.  But there may be a couple of pals this year who may ride just the Sunday leg.)

Last night's ride in the wind was a little exciting when you had anything going South.  Like riding in molasses.  You know that you have a mental problem when you can't take a day off with those conditions outside. 

3's entries on her blog recently have been good ones.

Today was a bit of an anniversary for myself.  I had the planning meeting this morning over at Augie that was the same function that I had attended 14 months ago and then had the car accident on my way home to change from my suit to jeans.  (I go through that intersection everyday, and I always remember the crash.)

I think 2 got my pics from last weekend up on to her Walgreen's account.  There's another set from the mini-digi that I'll have her post later today.  There are some good ones, but the lighting in the church made really good ones difficult.

No big plans for the weekend.  Hope to hit the blog with lots of wisdom.

BCOT

Thursday

Can't say that Earth Day has inspired me to "green up".  I don't mind recycling paper, glass, aluminum/tin, and plastic items.  That just makes sense.  I'll even take my own bags to the grocery on occasion.  But I'm a bit hooked on bottled water, and I don't lose a lot of sleep over the melting (?) icepack.  I'm guessing that the waste from one of the manure pits at one of the thousands of commercial feeder cattle operations creates a bigger challenge than the environmental damage I can wreak with my Dasani footprint.

Enjoyed 3's second recent contribution to the blogshere this week.  I'm guessing that she and 4 could provide a regular stream of entertainment if they could just make the commitment to write. 

One of the discouraging elements of blogging is that it can be a bit difficult to find some original thoughts on a daily basis, and we all know that just a drone about what you're doing loses the audience quickly.  And you often struggle with the idea that what might be appealing to your readers needs to be better than whatever it is that you have come up with that day. On that last point, my philosophy is, "This what I've got today. That's what you're getting."

The Top Ten lists, the interviews, and the stories from the farm are all efforts to keep some ideas flowing.  Obviously, some days (and some ideas) work better than others.  Writer's Block is real.

Shifting gears...

Spending my weekday evening rides on the bike path exposes me to the various levels of consciousness (or lack thereof) and me-isms that have always bugged me regarding bike path protocols.  I generally exclude the elderly and the under (say) 8-year olds from my criticisms.  My expectations on the thought processes of these two groups are not high.  I'm glad to see them using the path.  But I find examples almost daily of folks who should know better essentially elevating their own priority above all other users. 

I'm thinking that cyclists are the worst offenders.  At 5:30 in the evening when the path is probably at it's highest usage, you get speed freaks weaving in and out of traffic calling out, "Coming through" and expecting the seas to part.  And then you have inexperienced adult riders not slowing down, and expecting on-coming walkers to step off the path when the cyclists have crossed the center line to pass other walkers.  The speed freaks are thoughtless jerks.  The inexperienced casual riders are just ignorant.  Whatever.

Bit the bullet Tuesday and put new tires on the Buick.  I replaced the original tires that had 47,000 miles on the tread.  My right front had had a slow leak that required frequent input of air.  And the sensors on all of the tires routinely registered on the dash display, "Check blankety-blank's air pressure".  I was tired of the warnings, and had previously committed to myself that I would be swapping out the tires this Summer.  Needing to put in air in the right front again on Monday night tipped the scales to do the deed now.

Of course, the Buick has 18 inch wheels, an uncommon size.  Which, of course translates to more expensive tires.  While you can usually get a decent 15 or 16 inch diameter tire for $50-75, these 18 inchers came in at a cool $200.  Suite.  I initially thought I'd get just the two fronts replaced, but that made little sense.  So do the math.  Including an oil change, shop supplies (?) and taxes...$1,000.  Double suite.

The absolute best part of the experience was that when I jumped in the car Wednesday afternoon after work and fired 'er up, I got the, "Check Right Front Air Pressure" warning on the dash.  Triple suite.  Life is just too good.

So, in keeping with my earlier comment, that's all I've got for today.  Read it and weep.

BCOT

Tuesday

Another beautiful Spring day in River City.

I've had the IRS in the office yesterday afternoon and this morning.  A gal from C-town had drawn a Rock Island client for an employee benefit plan audit on a pension plan that our firm has administered for many years.  I lobbied her hard upon original receipt of the audit notice last month that the Service should spend their time and energy elsewhere: a companion plan at the same employer had been through a detailed audit (with no changes) less than five years ago.  Obviously, my arguments fell on deaf ears.

The long and the short of her examination?  No changes, but the agent looked where she needed to (I had the Under on the bet as to whether she was with-it enough to catch the weak link), and I need to send her a supporting schedule to back up one of the client's calculations.  Little damage, and it's always good to see the IRS go home.

I also have a favorable follow-up report on the surprise Direct TV billing last month for the auto-renewal of the NCAA Tourney package.  A call to D-TV Customer Service today eventually got me to a representative who lent a forgiving ear to my plight.  My plea was basically that I didn't know that I was on auto-renewal (since I obviously didn't didn't read the fine print a year ago), and the bill is also on auto-pay (and was in fact paid before I even saw the bill).

The long and the short here?  I didn't even have to go to Argument (Plan?) B before I got a $15 per month discount on my existing service over the next 12 months.  (I would've settled for three months of an HBO package.)  Some days things work out better than on other days. Suite.

The Direct TV matter came up today after I found my over-due AmEx bill buried in a stack of pre-April 15th junk on my desk. (I remember saying to myself, "Self, you need to call DTV to protest that bill".  What that had to do with AmEx is an example of my early-April synapses disconnections.)  I still have un-reviewed stuff in the same stack that I need to go through tomorrow.

A little excitement on my 16+ mile ride on the bike path tonight.  I went down for the first time this year.  Rule #1 lives.  No damage, except to my ego.  I went a little hot into a slightly down-sloped curve near Middle Park just as an oncoming rider was hitting the same curve.  That forced the apex of my line onto the dirt edge of the path and I just couldn't quite keep the bike upright.  With nothing but grass on my right, and a somewhat controlled lay-down move in mind, I instinctively unclipped my left foot and executed a perfect reverse-shoulder-slide.

I was down less than 30 seconds, didn't even lose the chain, and was rolling before I had to answer the inevitable, "You okay?" question from concerned (laughing?) passer-by's. No blood.  No torn clothing.  And most importantly, no broken bike parts.  The lesson?  Slow down, even (especially) on the bike path.

Then, just a couple of minutes later, I had the presence of mind to check my rear shirt pockets for my phone and the mini camera.  Yes for the camera.  No for the phone.  So I beat feet back to the scene of the crime, and luckily found the phone in the grass a few feet off the path.  Also undamaged.  (Now I'm considering shirts with zip-pockets or putting the electronics in the seat-bag.)

If you do the math, the fall/crash has to go in the bucket for negatives, but just about everything else came out positive.  For being careless, this was about as good as you can get.

Shifting gears...no pun intended...

A final point to ponder.  From baseball.  If there's two out in the inning, and the eighth-place hitter is up, is it better for the team in the field for the batter to make an out and therefore make the pitcher lead-off the next inning?  Or is is okay if the hitter gets on base, and makes the pitcher get up off the bench and take his licks?  (Of course, this question only applies to Real baseball as played in the National League.)  Confidence is high that I could write a pretty long blog on this question by itself.  And they say baseball is boring!

So have a great Wednesday.  But...

BCOT

Monday

So today is Grandpa Phil's 100th Birthday.  Wow!  Happy Birthday, Daddy!  It's a wonderful life you gave us.

Every one of you in the peanut gallery needs to give a nod to the guy who started it all.

Make it a great day!

BCOT

Sunday

The new picture is one that I took with my not-so-smart phone on my first road ride today out to McCausland.  The hill is a good one, maybe a half mile long or so, and one that I have climbed at least a couple dozen times a year since I became a road cyclist.  Today, I actually went down it, and came back on a parallel hill on a route a couple miles to the West.  It's real road-ridin'.

3 reports that she did a 5K in Beantown this AM, after a late evening of champagne-shrimp.  You da' girl!  And Daughter of the Day for the effort.  The race was a fun-run held the weekend before tomorrow's Boston Marathon, and finished at the marathon's finish line.  Very cool.  (Bonus points to 3 for getting back on her blog last week too.)

The Country Music Awards show is on this evening.  Pretty sad to admit that I have little clue about many of the nominated artists.  Then again, I really don't spend much time listening to the radio any more.  My hey-day for country music was when I spent a lot of time in the car, or working on house projects for our first home in Davenport.  All that, plus the fact that the music has progressed to a lot more pop-rock and New Age stuff that doesn't do anything for me.  Sorry, Taylor.  (What ever happened to Shania?)

Interesting ending to the golf tournament today.  In a two-man play-off, a guy named Brian Davis (whom I have never heard of) was playing multi-PGA-tournament winner Jim Furyk.  On the first play-off hole, Davis' approach shot went on to the beach next to the green.  He had a shot, but the ball was sitting near some reedy-type grasses.  He decided to try the shot rather than take a one-stroke penalty since Furyk looked like he had a par in the bag. 

Davis' shot got to the green, but it was a long putt for a possible tying par.  But before that attempt, Davis did what is done in no other sport.  He called a penalty on himself because he had hit one of the reeds on his back swing.  End of tournament.  He gets a nod on 4000 Days for keeping golf's integrity far above other competitions.

Then you have baseball.  The Cards played a 20 inning game last night.  They used 10 pitchers!  A utility infielder actually pitched the last two innings.  At least twice in the extra innings, with chances to win the game, the Cards had their pitchers hit with the bases loaded, either because they had no one else to come in to pitch, or they were out of pinch hitters. It went on for like seven hours.  No way would I have stayed past the seventh inning.

Speaking of baseball, I am definitely getting out to Omaha for the College World Series this year.  I thought those games were in May, but I just checked the schedule and the dates are June 19th to 29th.  I'm guessing that the end of that first week will be my choice, but I'm flexible.  Takers?

Still trying to get a handle on the Icelandic ash cloud.  If flights in Europe are all canceled because of the volcano, is there anyway that I could use the problem to get help with late tax payments for my clients?

So I am committing to ride Mt. Rose that week after the reunion, probably the Thursday the 15th.  That means I have around 80 days to train for Tahoe.  I'm going to have to put some thought into my training schedule so that I can be ready for the challenge.

With April 15th behind us, I hope to get back on a more regular program for the blog.  Funny how much energy Tax Day sucks out of you.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Friday

Here's a couple of pics from last night's party.  My pal Bill, 2, and the obligatory photo op of me with the pretty server.

Thursday

Headed out for some vino.

Y'all have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday

In a bit of family nuances, today is actually tax-Tax Day. 

(It takes an official insider to get that one!)

BCOT

Monday II

This really isn't a posting.  Here's a little tribute to Phil and Margaret in advance of their April 13th wedding anniversary.  74 years.

Pretty quiet out there. 

The other Margret is out on her first Spring ride today

BCOT

Monday AM

So anyway, my time over the next couple of days will be limited.  Plus, I've sent my laptop to the TC with SRH so I don't have the option to get online in the evening.  This sounds like an opportunity for others in the peanut gallery to add some lengthy comments.  I'll get a short post up each morning to start the thread.

Mowed my yard for the first time yesterday.  I noticed that most of the new plants that the landscape guy put in last Fall are off to a slow or no start.  Not exactly the plan.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

This was a scene just off the bike path around 7 this evening.  There were a couple of groups toward the East end of the path, with a total of twelve or so animals.  My not-so-smart camera phone didn't allow much of a shot.  I'm going to start carrying the mini like I did last year.

They're laying fiber-optic cable in the parking on our street.  Pretty efficient program with just a couple of guys and a machine that strings 3-inch PVC pipe several inches below ground.  I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I'm off to bed.  Didn't sleep well last night, and I need to catch up.  Busy day with more returns tomorrow.  And hopefully, another 25 miles on the bike.

BCOT

Thursday

 Another day of just a few lines.  It's that time of year.

The Winniferous again spent the night last night with SRH.  I sleep like crap with her in the house.  SRH is used to late night conversations with her girls.  But it was my turn for exercise responsibility.  But it was a misty, rainy evening, so the dogpark was not an option.  So W and I did three miles on Devil's Glen to 53rd and back.  The weather didn't slow her down a lick.  I was again reminded of the hammy, groin, achilles, and a new one, the left gastrocnemius.  (Look it up. Actually, I think I've mentioned it here a year or two ago.)

I've had The Masters on in the background as I worked this afternoon.  Tiger is in the hunt.  (Insert your favorite joke here.)  Actually, the great stories of the day are Tom Watson and Fred Couples, two older guys who are at the top of the leaderboard.  But in golf terms, there's an enternity to go yet. You can lose this tournament on Thursday and Friday by playing poorly, but without a doubt, this is a tournament that is won on the back nine on Sunday afternnon.

I'm headed to Trivia Night over at the high school as a favor to my pal Ron.  I mean, it's not like I volunteered on this one.  Hopefully, they won't be using questions from the modern version of Trivial Pursuit.  And that it won't go on all night.  My attention span may not last long.

In a truly shocking dose of reality, I learned last night that my next-door neighbor (not my perfect neighbor; the other-side-guy) passed away two nights ago.  Age 60.  Cancer.  He was an odd guy.  Kept to himself, his yard, and his family.  Not unfriendly, just not out-going.  Hadn't seen him much this Winter, but you don't see many people because of the short days, the cold, and the lack of kids to keep contact opportunities present.

Age 60.

Live life people.  Don't wait to do something later.  Later may not come.

City on the Truckee.  Tibetan ox.  Asian nurse.  Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

I'm ready.

BCOT

Tuesday

Just a few lines tonight to keep the thread open.

I had no better than so-so sleep last night with The Winniferous in the house.  Literally. When the time came to turn out the lights, she got real anxious, started growling, and then barking.  Which woke up a couple of other dogs in the neighborhood.  I theorized that she was experiencing a dog's case of Sundowner's Syndrome.  I first heard of Sundowner's when I was taking care of Margaret in those later years.

The long and the short of Sundowner's is that the elderly, particularly those with some dementia, get confused and agitated late in the day.  Being in strange places and mixed-up body rhythms probably contribute to the condition.  I'm not sure if there is a medical analysis on this or not.  And I'm not saying that Winnie has mental problems.  But her being in unfamiliar surroundings definitely had her a bit off kilter.

The track meet tonight was enjoyable, but hard on my back.  I stood for the whole three hours.  As track meets go, if was reasonably efficient.  Just four schools, just boys, and few events had more than a couple of races.  No pre-lims leading to finals.  The biggest problem I had was my need to lift my glasses to read the line-up sheets as the runners checked in.  And the tracksters were easy to work with.  Just a couple occurences of, "Oops, when's my race?"  I'll probably help out again at future meets.

I have no problem with Duke and UConn winning their titles.  I actually thought that the Butler kid had made the baseline, fall-away jumper.  I said, "Jimmy Chitwood lives" as the shot went up.  That would have made that kid a basketball  icon for the rest of his life.  The Duke and UConn teams are made up of players, not "I'm the star" individuals.  I've never been a big fan of Coach K, but his teams compete.  (And 3 needed the Dukies to ring the bell to collect the cash!).

Could care less about Tiger's news conference.

Still lots to do at the office.  I'll be glad when we get past the 15th.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

Had great expectations to be here yesterday, but ran into some bad shrimp while watching the games last night.

Lightening, thunder and rain on Easter evening here.  The grass will likely need mowing by the end of the week.  Not-so-suite.

Again got outside on the bike for both weekend days.  20 on Saturday and 26 today.  Still on the bike paths.  Windy today and on the simple out-and-back route, we cruised going, and got killed fighting it coming home.  But we also beat the rain and treated ourselves with a late lunch of a classic tenderloin at the 11th Street Precinct. Suite.

2 has relocated to the TC this week to attend to 1.01 while 1 heads back to work.  That means that The Winniferous is camping with SRH and LtPC for the next few days.  Unfortunately, the rain today kept us from getting her the right amount of exercise.  And the dog park may not be a great option as I don't do doggy baths.

Watching UConn - Baylor in the women's Final Four.  Looks like a full house at The Alamodome.  Which is good to see.  I'm thinking that they need to do a DNA test on Baylor's 6'8" Brittney Griner.  This is the gal who punched out another player last month and got a puny two-game suspension.  She certainly has the deep voice of a male.

I got a call from the PV High School AD over the weekend looking for help at a track meet on Tuesday aftrernoon/evening.  I'm thinking that my pal Ron volunteered my name.  Anyway, I'm going to be Clerk of the Course for the meet.  That's the guy to whom runners report to get staged for the next race and to get their lane assignments.  It's a good job because you're always busy.  (It's a good job as long as it isn't cold and doesn't rain.)

Opening Day (Night?) for Major League Baseball tonight with the Yankees playing the Sox in Boston.  (I remember a couple of Opening Days at Wrigley in the late '70's.  We had a client who had the Old Style beer distributorship that supplied Wrigley, and we just had to be there for a few games to supervise the beer stands.)   I'm thinking that maybe ESPN may have had some say on which teams opened the season.  Too bad 3 is sipping Margaritas on the patio in Colorado.  Or not.

The same USA Today Life section that had the picture of the local ballpark also had a brief story and picture of the church in Turin, Italy where The Shroud resides.  I noted the copy as 2 and I were at the church in September (when The Shroud was not on display).  The cathedral is pretty ordinary in appearance.  As was much of Turin.  Kind of cool to have walk the piazza where The Shroud is located.

My pal Roy leaves in the AM to spend the week at Augusta for The Masters.  He's been there multiple times in the past, but it's unusual that he will be there for the week.  Don't think he's going there to see Tiger.

Speaking of Tiger, his news conference tomorrow will likely steal some thunder from other stories of the day, most notably the NCAA championship game.  And the Opening Days at other major league parks.  I'm guessing that Tiger didn't plan it that way, but he does have a tendency to shine the light on himself.  Humble he is not.

Butler can win, and getting 7 or 7.5 points, I'd be tempted to take the underdog.  But I think that Duke will win. (It looks like 3 could win her pool if Duke wins. Cool beans.)

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

The top photo is the one of River Bandits' stadium  (now Modern Woodmen Park) in Davenport that was featured in Fiday's edition of USA Today that UM noted in her comment on Thursday's entry.  It is a cool place to watch a minor league game.

The second photo came from 1's phone camera today.  She's at the new Target Field in downtown Minneapolis where the Twinkies now call home.  Very cool.

Sunny here today.  Biking later.  Final Four at 1700 hours.

BCOT

Thursday

80+ here today.  Summer hot.  But not much humidity.

I was able to get in a 15 mile ride on the bike path this evening starting as late as 6:25.  This is a good sign.  In a couple of weeks, that evening ride will be a lay up.  In a month, we'll be able to get out in the morning before work.  Suite.

Got the pre-emergent on the yard this week too.  For as much snow as we had this Winter, and as late as it stayed, I'm surprised at how hard the ground is now.  A little rain wouldn't be a bad thing.

2 just stopped in with a girl friend to bum a glass of wine.  2's dealing with stress issues at work, and had more stress with a team project this evening with her Iowa class, so Liberty School seemed like a good call.  One of the advantages of having fam down the street, is the unplanned little visits.  Very cool.

My disappointment with the Direct TV NCAA tournament package for the 2009 tournament is the gift that keeps on giving.  As you may recall, I had no small amount of buyer's remorse last year as the package was weighted down by the fact that, regardless of the anything else, the only feed for the games was the CBS broadcast.  Thus, once you get past the first weekend, there's really not much to be gained by the supposedly greater access.  So there was no way that I was going to sign-up for the service for the 2010 games.

Ah, contrare, my non-reader of the fine print.

When I got my AmEx bill this week, which includes the monthly Direct TV auto-bill debit, there was the monthly charge, up about $75 over the normal fee.  Say what?  So I go to the Direct TV site, pull up the March billing, and there's the line-item of $69.99 plus tax for the NCAA full coverage service.  Somewhere in the Terms of Service that I'm certain I didn't read last year, but did check that I agreed to, it must have said that it was an automatic renewal until canceled.  Shame on PC for the fatal assumption.

These are the kind of things that make consumers distrust companies that game their services.  Let's see, how can we trick a buyer to pay more than they otherwise might choose to do?  I've encountered this practice in a variety of subscription services, even with various vendors in our business.  Annual tax books, or computational programs from on-line providers frequently will send you the update.  And a bill.  (In those situations, after year 2, you at least know the way the game is played.)

Anyway, I have since cooled down, and when I call them tomorrow, my argument will not be for a refund, but rather for a couple of free months of HBO or Showtime.  Surely they'll give me something for their left-handed theft.

And I will be canceling the NCAA package for 2011, thank you very much.l

Gotta say I didn't get the Topeka - Google switcheroo for April Fool's Day.  Still don't.  Aren't April Fool's jokes supposed to have a chance at being funny?

My only comment on the NCAA plan to expand the field to 96 teams is, uh, why?  A better tournament?  Hardly.  The NIT goes away, and the 32 teams that have at least given viewers something to see on off-nights become participants in the equivalent of 16 "play-in" games.  Most of winners then being gone in the new 2nd round.  I'm sure the NCAA pinheads are counting $$$$'s.  It always comes down to money.

1 and 1.1 have themselves a new set of wheels.  The Monte is history.  1.01 need a four-door vehicle.  How did I get through that phase with a pick-em-up truck?  Another example of how the girls made it through childhood (and after) in spite of the parents.

Off to bed.  Make it a Good Friday.

BCOT