Sunday

Happy Birthday to 3!!!!

I've had pretty good luck over the weekend of using my preferred interests as my Home Page photo, so I figured we might as well use a nice pic of the birthday girl for today as well.  I'm having her share the spotlight with her Maid of Honor as this was a pic that had a couple of great smiles.  You 'da girls!

In most years, October 15th is a weekday, and October 16th is either a short day or a day off for me.  Not so much this year.  With the 15th falling on a Saturday, the pain actually stretches out to the 17th.  So I'm crying in my beer a little today as I get the last of the extended returns in shape for filing tomorrow.

This is not me.  And it is not my pal Pete.  While we have both gone over the handlebars a few times, this was not our act.  (His cast is off, but the weather and the vanishing daylight will limit the outdoor rides to a couple of weekend days for the rest of the Fall.)

Our local bike club is bringing in Bob Roll to speak at the annual club dinner next week.  He's one of the commentators on the TdF broadcast on Versus TV each year.  A former US professional rider of some merit, he's become the official "goofball" of the TV shows.  I have little doubt that his new career as a niche celebrity is generating a lot more cash than any income from his pro cycling days.  I'm guessing that the local club is paying him $3,500 or thereabouts plus expenses for his appearance here.

The club got the idea last year that a featured speaker would maybe make their event more than the routine October meeting attended by the same 20-25 hard-core members.  And they were right.  The dinner last year attracted as many as 125 folks to hear from  mountain bike competitor Dave Wiens who had beaten Lance Romance in the Leadville race in 2008 (after Lance's first retirement). 2 and I attended that one, and I've already committed to buying a table for the Roll dinner.  Lots of excitement here in River City!

I normally wake up (without an alarm) between 0500 and 0530.  This morning, in that time range, I'm laying in bed trying to decide whether I should get going or not (it being a Sunday and all), and I think I'm hearing music.  This gets my attention, and I start concentrating, and the music being played is actually "reveille", most certainly from the Arsenal, at least two or three miles away!  That was a new one for me.  (Reveille brings back some memories from my ROTC bootcamp in Charleston SC, circa 1970, but that's a story I have either previously related, or will relate at another time.)

My personal goal this week is to work harder at tuning out the politics of the day.  Not only do you have the nuts in the encampment in NYC, you have things like the Olive Garden restaurant not letting a Kiwanis club display the American flag at their meeting because it might interfere with the dining experiences of other customers, And there's the Massachusetts grade school principal banning recognition of Columbus Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving in her school, deeming them as insensitive.  And wearing a flag lapel pin is obviously a firable offense.  So I'm just staying with the sports pages.

Again, Happy Birthday to 3.  Make it a great day

BCOT