Sunday

The end of September.

I didn't see much of the Iowa game.  Minnesota came in 4-0, but didn't offer much resistance.  I'm guessing that the Hawks' game next Saturday at Michigan State will tell us more about what to expect the rest of the year.  I still think that 8 wins will be a reach.

The Ryder Cup has been good theater.  With the USA up by four points coming into today's 12 singles matches, the home team should take the trophy.  Several people from here have gone in to see the tournament live.  With only 4 matches going on at any one time on Friday and Saturday, 40,000 to 50,000 people can make good viewing a bit problematic.  If they had a Sports Corner bar at the turn, I might consider it.  Uh, not really.

The 2013 Giro d' Italia route was unveiled yesterday.  It starts in Naples, goes South to The Boot, and then returns North with a big day late in the race with a mountain-top finish on The Galibier.  The Dolomites in the top, right hand corner of the map, have some tough climbs as well.  They finish in Milan.  2 and I may fly to Naples as our entry point if our trip to Sicily next Fall becomes a reality.

I really don't follow The Giro that closely.  But they know how to pick their podium girls.  Sorry, couldn't resist the man-thing.

We all know that TV controls the kick-off times for football games.  Not to mention the maddeningly increasingly long media time-outs.  I wonder if NBC pulled their weight a little this AM with the first Ryder Cup singles match tee-off.  The paper said that Match 1 was to go at 11:03 local.  By my clocks, I think that they may have been a minute or two delayed.  And magically, immediately and seamlessly after Dan Hicks' little intro.  NBC's coverage started at 11:00, so I wonder if the "red-hat" guy was blocking the tee for a bit.  It would be shocking to me if NBC tried to intervene for it's own benefit.  Not.

The Drake Relays always prided itself in starting events on exactly the minute scheduled.  The scoreboard had a big digital clock clearly visible to crowd, and you could count on the gun going off on the exact minute listed in the program.  I remember the PA announcer coming on a time or two to say that a race was being held up for a minute or two so that they wouldn't get ahead of the scheduled time.

I've decided to go with a stability ball as my desk "chair" for parts of my work days.  I haven't done much of a job on my exercise routine since the end of Fit Club.  Golf is over, but if I can get a few simple routines incorporated into my daily activities, next year's quest for a lower handicap will get off to a better start.  (I think that 12 is still a good number.)
....

Now Later:....Hmmm.  That big choking sound that you heard this afternoon outside Chicago was the US golfers losing most of the day's matches, their big over-night lead, and the Ryder Cup.  Our guys just can't get up for a team game.  They're so busy trying to beat one another every week, this team thing just doesn't work.

More technology that I don't understand:  I got an @BarackObama spam-tweet this afternoon on my iPhone that didn't appear on my iPad or on the laptop Twitter feeds.  And the number of spam tweets I receive is on the rise.

I did learn how to key the "alert" notification on my devices when I put a meeting on my Outlook calendar from my phone or iPad.  (I had missed a meeting a couple weeks back, before I realized that I had to take an additional step when I input the meeting remotely, and I'm pretty sure if the alert had sounded, I would have made the meeting.)  I may even go to a community education program this Winter to learn more about the iPhone and iPad.  I know I have a lot to learn.

There are two efforts locally to preserve old buildings that look to me like they need to go.  One is an old school house on one of my bike routes:  Forest Grove School.  It doesn't look this good from the road.  Maybe a few boards could be salvaged for a vintage wall in a den.  Spending thousands is nuts.

In Moline, they're talking $150K to move the old railroad station a couple of miles to the Western Illinois QC campus.  Which hasn't been truly functional for years.  As if the students will be inspired by the old brick.  Whatever.  Now the politicians think they can go find some public money...and some votes, I'm sure.

Very busy this week.  I have lots to get done by October 15th.

BCOT.

Friday

Just a couple of lines today.  Looks like a picture-perfect football Friday in the QCA.

I'm not sure whether the jinx still exists given the falling importance of print media, but for someone who still reads a lot of printed material, I'm kinda glad that Notre Dame has their off-week tomorrow. Check out the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated:

The kid featured is their middle linebacker from Hawaii.  Nice article about his journey.  There was lots of talk about him perhaps going pro last year, but then spurning the money for his senior year.  Hmmmm.  If the high draft slot was a $4 million drafting position, I wonder if the scouts actually told him that another year was needed to get ready for the NFL.

Here's a headline that the Big O would love:  http://economywatch.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14137911-france-wants-to-slap-rich-with-75-percent-super-tax?lite  Eat the Rich is not the preference of solely the US Democrats. 

So O was at Kent State and Bowling Green yesterday, pandering yet again to his campus constituency.  I have trouble reconcilling the pursuit of better loan terms for financing college, with the lack of post-graduation employment opportunities, and the long-term per capita allocation of our government's exploding debt obligations.  Do these kids ever ask a tough question?  Or is, "It's Bush's fault" still the hit tune?

Hope everyone has a Good Friday.

BCOT

Thursday

Not sure how it got to be Thursday so quick this week.

Well, They're Back!  Any bets on how long it will take for the first refereeing controversy with the regular officials?  The built-in excuse is that the regular guys have been on the sidelines since last year, and don't quite have they're A game ready to go from a dead start off of the couch.  Trust me.  You'll read that story after this weekend's games.

The other big story of the day is that, according to the Maplecrest Memory Wall, today is the 3-year anniversary of the The Winniferous taking up residence on Highland Avenue.  Again, according to my calendar, 2 and I returned from Italy on Saturday the 26th, and she went over to Geneseo and picked up The W on the following day.  I can't remember when the formal naming occurred.  It took a few days to decide on Winnie.

I guess this makes The W Pet of the Day.  She has certainly carved her way into the family's lore.  It did not occur to me at the time that I would become a surrogate master for her on a regular basis.  Not that I'm complaining.  The W has provided her share of blog material over the last three years.

Here's an example of the growth of bureaucracy.  I've been a member of the Notre Dame Monogram Club for 40+ years.  There's an element of distinction of winning an athletic "letter" in a varsity sport at ND.  My letterman's jacket remains one of my prized possessions.  Historically, alumni letter winners were given some recognition at home football games, and there has always been an annual dinner/golf outing, usually in the early Summer (I think).  I've never attended any of these events.  But I've always paid my annual dues.

In the last 10-15 years, the annual solicitation package accompanying the dues notice has become more and more sophisticated.  What was originally a short letter, postcard to complete with your data, and a return envelope, had expanded to multiple inserts and an ever-increasing effort to expand the footprint of the organization.  I think that general growth in the areas of technology and social media, and cross-coordination by various ND alumni groups have made the Monogram Club a more vocal source of influence in the ND community.

This is what came in the mail this week.  38 color pages.  Hard paper stock.  Somebody worked on this thing for months!  The dues card was slipped into the inside cover, held in place by a dollop of that sticky substance that allows for non-tearing removal of the card.  Amazing.

And the club now has a full-time Executive Director.  For the last three years!  I missed that one.   Welcome to the New Millennium. 

A final note.  I see where singer Andy Williams has passed away at age 84.  He was very popular in the '60's and early '70's with numerous hit recordings and a TV variety show.  Moon River was his signature song.  He would have been in his 30's when in his heyday, but he continued to be successful after he faded from the headlines with recurring shows in places like Las Vegas and at a theater he owned in the Midwest's entertainment venue of Branson, Missouri.  Which means he worked into his 70's, kind of like a lot of folks.

All for now.  Have a good one.

BCOT

Tuesday...UPDATED

Just to confirm...I did complete my official registration for the 2012 Turkey Trot this AM.  Two interesting facts on the registration: 1) the online registration service charge is $2.88 which exceeds 10% of the current early registration fee of $27: and 2) the co-race director is PV grad Missy Knott.

I'm guessing that my pal Tim who is one of the owners of the online registration company sets that add-on fee based on his company's economics.  This is a little different than the cash-or-credit convenience fee at a retail store, or the user fee at an out-of-network ATM, but it strikes me as a little high on the relative price of the product.  Conversely, a $2.50 processing charge seems OK for this type of thing, and a total registration fee of less than $30 for a charity event (with long-sleeved t-shirt included) passes my smell test.

UPDATE:  My pal Tim advises me that the service charge actually goes to three separate entities involved with the online transaction.  His firm gets a flat fee of less than $1.50.  The balance of the service charge goes to the credit card company and the data-processor-hosting site who each have their own add-on fees that the Turkey Trot has elected to pass on to each registrant (like almost all charity events choose to do).  END OF UPDATE.

For you other confirmed trotters in the Peanut Gallery, the entry fee goes to $32 after September 30th.  That's a small coffee and a pastry at the coffee shop.  Just sayin'.

That growing roar that you hear from The Chorus is the discontent by the fans with the NFL's replacement refs.  I didn't watch the game last night, but for a team to win (or lose!) on a last-play Hail Mary with a decision by the officials is a recipe for bad press.  Like I said before, the regular striped-men have their fair share of disputed calls; the replacement crews seem to have a few more than normal games, and the flow of the games has definitely been affected.  I think all parties will be best served to get the strike settled and return the focus to the games, not the refs.

I see from the TV ads during football games, NASCAR races and golf events that the Fall TV premiers are beginning to be shown this week.  Am I just getting too old, or is this just a bunch of noise?  And they had the Emmy's on Sunday?  I only know this from the red-carpet pics on Yahoo yesterday where the women's competition for fashion reviews was featured.  I just can't keep up with the bombardment of publicity for the new shows and new seasons for the old shows.  Hmmm.  Maybe I'm just not sufficiently bored to need the mindlessness of TV for entertainment.  Or maybe I'm just too old.

Golf brings it's International marquee event to Chicago this weekend with the Ryder Cup matches.  This is a biennial (every two year) competition between the US and Europe.  They play 28 matches over the course of three days.  16 of the matches are with two-man teams, while the 12 Sunday marches are man-on-man singles.  The team that wins the most matches wins the Cup.  Scoring is done on the match-scoring system which means each hole is a separate contest.  A team or a player wins a match by winning more holes.  Totals strokes are not meaningful, only the strokes on the hole in play matter. 

The Ryder Cup has become a big deal in golf.  While almost all other tournaments are every-man-for-himself, the Ryder CUp is a team event.  The competition has become intense, and various players over the years have wore the wreaths of heroes or horns of goats for their play in deciding matches.  I suppose that the media has stoked these fires.  But technology has allowed fans to be instantly involved with the competition, and every factoid is analyzed.  We'll see something this year that will be fodder until the next match in Europe in two years.

Speaking of factoids, there was a story in SI or one of the papers this week about some new-to-me statistics that they keep on run-production in MLB.  They now measure things like runs-scored-by-home-runs as a percentage of total-runs-scored, and home-runs as a percentage of total-fly-balls.  These stats bring into arguments the efficacy of the stolen base and sacrifice bunts.  Hmmm.  Pretty soon, they'll be checking shoe-size relative to frequency of hitting into double plays.

Now to work.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

Three years ago today, I made the climb up the Galibier in the French Alps.  2 was my support.  That bike was a beast.  No Granny gear!  The last 10 kilometers were as hard as it gets.

We were staying in Turin in northwest Italy, and it took almost two hours of driving through the mountains to get to Briancon, a French ski town, which was the base of the climb.  2 did great work driving the rental car up the narrow, winding road to keep track of my progress and to meet me at the summit. 

It was a memorable day. 

I'll do a real entry tomorrow.

BCOT

Sunday

Hmmm.  I note that I only had three posts last week.  The target is four.  Friday and Saturday were full days and I didn't make time to get back here.  I'll work a little harder this week.

My Friday included a forgettable afternoon round of golf at my old club in Davenport, Crow Valley.  A friend who needed to reciprocate for an invitation to Geneva that I had extended to him earlier this Summer, had bought (or won in a raffle) a round for a foursome at Crow, and Friday was the day.  Neither my friend nor his two other buddies had played much (if at all) at Crow (a tough course for a player new to it), and the round extended to almost dark.  Windy, cool, a little rain.  Slow play.  It was almost 2000 hours by the time 2 and I opened a nice bottle of Pine Ridge here on Maplecrest.

Then on Saturday, after an enjoyable (but still cool) round of golf with my pal Roy at Geneva, it was a drive down to Ottumwa for what was a very informal reunion dinner for my high school graduation class of 1967.  The reunion had been late to be organized (I think I got the call while I was at Tahoe), and there were  only about 25 attendees out of a class of 64 members.  There had actually been some activities for Friday night as well, and a couple of people who had been there Friday had not been able to stay for the second day.  So maybe the show-up rate wasn't too bad.

Even though I went to school for 13 years with several of my high school classmates, none of the friendships survived much beyond the Summer college breaks.  (I actually hung out more with the class that was a year younger than me as there were more baseball and basketball teammates in that class.  And I mostly dated girls from the other high school.)  There have been a few connections over the years, but nothing of a recurring nature. 

But it was fun to catch up with those who were there.  I think that the 50-year reunion in 2017 will be more well-attended.  That tends to be a date that people have a natural curiosity to compare life-paths.

I made sure to get to Ottumwa with enough time before the dinner to check out some of the locations in town that remain etched in my memories.  While not much of Jason Aldeen fan, Ottumwa is definitely the place that bears the Tattoo's on this Town for me.  Here are a few of the pic's that I took on my memory tour:

The drive to and from reminded me a lot of those many trips that I made the last couple of years that Mother was in Ottumwa at the Good Samaritan Home.  I would drive different back roads back then to break the monotony and to avoid the towns.  I couldn't tell you the road numbers, but that part of my muscle-memory is intact as I made all the turns yesterday without getting lost. 

The farm was almost impossible to recognize.  There are numerous houses on the parcel that previous contained the barn, the old house and the day-pastures for the cows.  They've even got a new home under construction immediately across from what was the "new" house, having pretty much taken out the pond that had been there for ever. 

 

I had wanted to take some pictures of a couple of spots on the East side of Route 63, along the county road.  Unfortunately, the brush had become so thick and the trees so dense, there was nothing to photograph.  And to think that I used to do a Fall cutting of hay in some of those clearings.

 

The original Walsh High School home on Chester Avenue has fallen into substantial disrepair.  At one point, a local historical society  had been located there, but now it is simply a private residence in need of work.  Tahoe Phil would be disappointed.

 

Mother and Daddy remain in place.

 

I know that most of these pics don't mean a lot to those in the Peanut Gallery under age 35.  To the rest of us, the history is still in the memory banks.

 

I need to get some chores done outside.  I may get back on here later today.

 

BCOT

 

Thursday

The new Home Page pic was taken last night from the deck of our cruising boat while in the middle of the Mississippi around 2000 hours.  Cool, eh?

The boat trip was the winning prize in a raffle at a charity event last Winter.  I had written a check as a contribution, and my pal Ron's better half, Jane, used that check to buy tickets.  One came home the winner for a captained-and-crewed, 4-hour cruise for 10 on Ole' Muddy.  Last night was the night.  And it was fun.  Which says a lot from a guy who isn't that comfortable away from dry land.  Of course, we did bring our own wine.  Shock!

My RCL advised me that I'll have a substitute provider for 4-6 weeks.  She's have bunion surgery.  Yuck!  I think the gal who pinch-hits when Irina travels to Russia will be taking care of me.  The good news is that my house is small and not very complicated.  And with a weekly engagement, the dust just doesn't get that bad.

So we have the Muslim world upset because of some movie.  But aren't those guys always upset?  Its kind of like there being one guy in your group who always needs to play the touch football game (or street hockey or whiffle ball, etc.) by his rules.  You know, and after a while, you've had enough of trying to be nice and accommodating.  You can't make him happy unless its always his way.  So you stop inviting him to play.

My point being that there has been an unending cacophony of slander against the Catholics in recent years.  That seems to be okay with the Tolerance Police.

Then you have the perv's who decided that the world needed long-shot photo's of a topless Kate Middleton.  Personally, I could care less about this one.  But it seems to be a slippery slope to ban these pics while ignoring the infinite skin of others on the Internet.

In a somewhat similar vein, it seems kosher (note racist term) in American politics to secretly tape a candidate's comments at a private function.  (It's usually more warmly embraced by the Fourth Estate if the candidate has an (R) after his name, and the comments can be spun to a sensational headline.)

I've now lost my train of thought.  That is a very red dress!!

Have a Good Friday.

BCOT

Tuesday AM

I decided to give Kinnick a little airtime on the blog. 

Yesterday's filing date for 2011 entity returns was chaotic, as expected.  (The remains of the day are on my office floor this AM.)  When there is no further delay possible, decisions get made and the returns get filed.  Usually, the choices were there since the end of the year, and neither the prepare nor the taxpayer wanted to face the facts.  So a deadline date isn't such a bad thing.  The can can't get kicked further done the road.  (There will be more cans to kick this year anyway!)

Dawn caught my eye as I left the coffee shop just after 0600.  This one was taken with the iPhone and is a bit grainy in original form.  I condensed it for the blog and this version gets closer to what I thought I was seeing.  Three months ago, it would have been bright daylight at that hour and @bcbison and I would have been halfway done with our early ride.  I miss that early sun.

Three years ago this week, 2 and I were traipsing our way around Italy.  I think that today was one of our two days at Lake Garda, a Tahoe-like area a few miles West of Verona.  We enjoyed lunch at

a cafe on a piazza area right by the lake.  Good times.

Anyone paid any attention to the lyrics of Eric Church's song, Springsteen?  I'm not a big fan of his music as it isn't really country in my view.  But a couple of the lines resonate: 1) funny how a melody sounds like a memory, and 2) like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night.  The concept of music and memories has been used by lots of artists.  Trisha Yearwood did one years ago that I really liked called The Song Remembers When.  I know that there are a handful of songs that take me to various places and times in my past.  And most of those music/time/place associations are good.  Why is that?

I'm thinking that today may be Aunt Margaret birthday, eh?

I didn't pay much attention to the football game last night, but it was on as I was doing some things around the house before I hit the hay.  Manning looked pretty human.  But the stories this AM highlight the problems that are beginning to surface with the replacement refs.  The speed and complexity of the pro game has to be a huge learning curve for these guys.  I don't envy their spots.  The money and prestige that the teams aspire to (getting to the Super Bowl), is a serious business.  There's referee-ruling mistakes in the history of even the regular officials. But if a game gets decided on a blown call in the current facts, there will be no end to the finger-pointing.

OK.  Time to get to business.  I might get back on here later today.

BCOT

Sunday

This had to be one of the quicker weekends I've had for a while.  3 and 3.1 blew into MLI on Friday morning, and the hits just kept on coming through their departure this afternoon.

The tailgating on Saturday before the game was decidedly low-key.  I'm thinking that the Hawks have lowered the expectations of their fans and you could feel it in the parking lots.  It was a non-conference game with a lower division opponent, but still, I got into Iowa City around 11:40 for a 2:40 kick-off, and the only stop-and-go traffic that I had to deal with was at a red-light on Dubuque Street.

But as was the case with Northern Illinois, two weeks ago, a win is a win is a win.
The Hawks complete the Directional University portion of their schedule next week when the Chippewa's of Central Michigan coming calling.

This airport photo is posted just for effect.  I mean, how can you waste an opportunity to get such a rare photo?  I took it with the iPhone in poor terminal lighting, and it barely makes the "save" category.

Props to the Irish for an improbable win at East Lansing.  Their road doesn't get any easier with a visit from Michigan this Saturday.  My pal Pete may be at that one.  The ND Estate Planning conference is Thursday and Friday, an annual program that he regularly attends with a Des Moines ND grad whom he has known since college.  (Years ago, I used to go to the same conference.)

A few things learned from the early golf round played at 0715 on Saturday:

1.  That early, mid-September sun is a beach.  Several holes on the front nine looked right into the sun.  It changed my game, for sure, and not for the better.
2.  The heavy dew this time of year is like playing immediately after a measurable rain.
3.  Most evident of all; my handicap goal will not make it this year.   Bummer.
4.  My putting stoke is gone.  I may need to go to a long-handled putter like many of the pro's have done, particularly the seniors.

Here's a little episode for reference in a future Glad Game.  When I got back to Geneva from Iowa City last evening for the party, I took a shower to wash off the dust of Kinnick Stadium.  In the process, I had carried in  a duffel bag with some clothes and other personal items.  After completing my work in the locker room, including policing my area for my dirty clothes and toiletries, I took the bag back to my car.  All's well, eh?  Well, when I finally got home (not that late, kids!), I realized that I wasn't wearing my Ironman wrist watch.  Another bummer!

I scoured the duffel bag a few times, searched the car, and finally concluded that I had to have left it on a surface in the locker room.  I was a bit concerned about a watch laying openly there on a counter, particularly when I had watched the band for the party getting dressed in my area of the locker room for their gig .  They were definitely sketchy...and not tea-totalers!  (I think most club members would either ignore an item like a watch sitting out, thinking that someone would come back for it; or maybe they would turn it in to the pro shop.)

I had rationalized that the watch was probably gone, and that it had been a worthy investment given that I had owned it for several year (batteries and bands too!). But I called the pro shop this morning and asked them to look around on the off-chance that it was laying about.  The assistant pro called me back a few minutes later to tell me that he had in fact found my watch in the locker room!  Bonus!  (So I mis-judged those band guys.  Sorry for the sketchy-persons profiling!)

My 60 Month Plan became a 55 Month Plan over the weekend.  If a person was keeping track of such things!

Busy day tomorrow.  It's the Drop Dead Extension Date for 2011 tax returns for corporations, partnerships and trusts.  I have a few to get done by end-of-business tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a good week.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Friday

The NYC folks have arrived in Iowa.  They are now off to IC.

More here later.  Maybe

BCOT

Thursday

We've had a bit of a turn in the weather today.  After some warm days, we are going to be in the 40's most nights.  Great sleeping weather.

Two straight nights on the Maplecrest driveway this week with my pals Jake and Pete.  (It was dark out when I took this on my iPhone last night.)  At least last night we ordered in some food.  Great to see Jake's Pants, but a full time guest in my one-man house for two full days (and nights!) reminded me of why I live alone. 

Speaking of iPhones, they announced the latest version this week.  I'm sure that it can do one's laundry, and probably mix a martini.  The somewhat bad news?  The charger has a different connection profile...meaning that all those handy, interchangeable charging cords/seats/stations that work on the phones, pads and pods won't work on the upgraded device.  Ka-ching, ka-ching.

Good luck to 3 and 3.1 on their road trip to Iowa this weekend.  I'll try to post a pic tomorrow after their arrival at MLI.  They have a tight schedule to meet 3.1's presentation in IC.

Sounds like Harvard Univedrsity may have an academic cheating scandal that has wrapped in the point guard from their NCAA-qualifying basketball team.  Even the hoighty-toighty Crimson can't find athletes who can stay out of trouble.  I have never been a believer in Tommy Amaker.

Then you have a real back-page thing going on at North Carolina with Tyler Hansbrough's mother.  I followed a string on-line today and the deal is kinda juicy.  She's a former Miss Missouri.  Divorced from the boys' dad.  Hired as a fund-raiser by UNC.  She gets socially involved with the school's head fund-raiser.  And they start going on trips together on the school's dime.  To towns suspiciously close to ND away games (where son Ben played).  Somebody started asking questions.  And now they're in the gossip pages.

Hope y'all have a Good Friday.

BCOT

Wednesday

Last night on the driveway on Maplecrest with my pals Pete and Jake was a hoot.  We were able to re-tell one another the stories from years ago that have survived the onset of Alzheimer's.  2 made a good choice to head home with The W after our run.  There was certainly little new ground covered after the second bottle of Rodney Strong.

There was a notice in the local obituaries this week that struck a chord with me.  The attorney who cut me a sweet-heart lease shortly after I started my professional practice passed away.  Roy VDK.  He was 94.  His health had been on the serious decline for the last couple of years.  A Dutchman.  Born in Pella, Iowa.  He walked a very straight line.

I had initially worked out of an upstairs bedroom in our house on Scott Street in Davenport.  After 3-4 months, it was apparent that I needed a place to meet with new clients and to have routine office services more readily available.  The law firm in Rock Island had gone through a shake-up and several attorneys had moved to other locations.  However, the firm was stuck with a lease that still had years to go.  And there was a lot of unoccupied offices in their space as a result of the break-up.

When I was in their offices one day in early 1983 talking with this gentleman on a variety of things about my start-up practice, the discussion turned to my need to get space somewhere.  Before I knew it, we had a hand-shake agreement to sublet an office in their space, and pay piece-rate for copying, secretarial services and supplies.  We worked that way for nearly three years, during which time I expanded my space to three offices, never having a written lease. 

(I've always considered Roy VDK as one of my true benefactors, willing to extend help to another farm boy.  But I'm sure he could do the math, and getting a few dollars from a compatible sublet was probably an easy business decision for him at that time as well.)

This was the same attorney who hired my pal Pete in 1980 or so, bringing him to the Quad Cities from Omaha.  Two other attorneys from that office have remained good friends over the years.

Roy VDK would have been about my age now when he graciously extended his help back in 1983.  And I was a green-bean, naive 34 year old with a couple of kids.  With a thin plan for a CPA business starting from scratch.  Looking back, I thought he was an old guy, throttling back.  And now I'm him?  Hmmmm.

Switching gears...

I had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a long-time client and came away with another nugget of, "Its a Small World".  We were talking current events and comparing to the old days.  I asked him where he went to high school as I had never known where he called "home".  Turns out that he's from Cedar Rapids, and went to CR Jefferson for high school. 

My sole connection with CR Jefferson is that they won the big-school class state basketball tournament my senior year.  I know this because our team had court-side seats for the championship game that night after we had lost the third-place game in the small-school class earlier that day.  CR Jeff had  four D-1 players (including a guy who played QB at Iowa) and was the big favorite the win all season.  But the championship game was a thriller as Ames came out in a trick defense that Jeff had trouble with, and Ames had a 6'7" kid who lit it up all night.  Jeff won, but it wasn't easy.  That's probably one of only a couple of high school basketball games that I remember where I wasn't a player on the court.

So I'm relating this memory of CR Jeff to this client (whom I've known for 20+ years, played golf with numerous times, and partied with over the years), and he says, "Yeah, that center was my best friend, and I was on the bench as the back-up point guard!"  It is a small world.

For the record, 3 and 4 have made small additions recently to their blog.

OK.  My pal Jake is still in town and we have work to do. Make it a good Wednesday.

BCOT

Tuesday

Eleven years.  Vivid memories. 

Not too bad of an idea to offer a prayer today for those who have passed, and for more peace and less hate for those of us fortunate enough to still still tread this earth.

BCOT

Monday

I had hoped to get an entry done last night after my return from Woodbury, but obviously, I failed.  Mostly, I had to listen to the last tape of the book-on-tape from the trip, and that took almost an hour.  (I'm still trying to decide if the book was decent or not.)  I've favored the longer books on my recent trips.  Usually, that means 12-14 disks, and that total is almost always an hour more than the driving-time.  Then there was laundry...and an early-to-bed choice.

Here's a pic from yesterday morning, just as I was leaving to head South.  Let's make 1.01 and 1.02 Grandkids of the Day!  Really enjoyed my visit.  The highlight for me was Saturday morning when 1.01 and I spent a couple of hours away from Mom and Dad, going to the coffee shop, the library and the park.  Little girls grow up, eh?

I found it interesting that the home-building in 1 and 1.1's area looks like it is in full swing.  Not only were several homes and multi-family structures in various stages of completion, but a whole new tract with streets measured and partially paved has been plotted out with room for maybe 500 more new homes.  At least in Woodbury, I'd say that they are past the real estate bubble.

At the end of my walk on Saturday afternoon (when the kids were in naps), I decided to go through an Open House at one of the model homes near the park where 1.01 plays.  The home had a middle-of-the-road appearance from the sidewalk.  It had five bedrooms, four and a half baths, and probably 4000+ square feet of living space (including a finished basement).   The garage footprint was as big as my house.  The house was very nicely, but not opulently appointed.  They really weren't selling the model, so there wasn't a price listed, but at my estimate of $150 per square foot to build, the price would have to have been in the $650K range. 

I know interest rates are low, but an 80% mortgage is over a half million dollars!  And where do you get the $100K+ as the down-stroke?  I worry about people getting that far in debt.  The 2008 problems were brought on by the thought that such prices could only go up.  My thought?  There is an "up" limit.

Lots of stories out of sports this weekend.  Is there a loss story more significant than the Arkansas one against Louisiana Monroe?  This is the follow-up to the tabloid-demise of Coach Bobby Petrino last Spring.  Coming out of last season, the Razorbacks considered themselves a contender for the National title, thinking that they had the talent to compete with the likes of Alabama and LSU.  And now?  Is any team or institution immune to a fall when the person running at the point position is revealed as a faux-leader?

ND escapes Purdue.  But doesn't cover.  I had that bet weeks ago.  You can look it up.

Chicago school teachers are on strike this AM.  Isn't this another example of money not being the solution?  How can you get improved results out of a student population that is largely comprised of kids from all the problem sectors in our social order?

RevKev has added a new entry to his blog, with the promise that he will be back on a regular basis.  Hmmm.  He links to a nice article in the campus newspaper about himself and his new job .

My Favorite Tree from the Buick yesterday afternoon.  I never get tired of catching this look.

More later.

Good luck to Monday for all.

BCOT

Saturday

So I'm doing this entry while watching the Iowa - Iowa State game.  1.01 and 1.02 are down for naps, so there's a little peace and quiet on Harvest Path.

My cell phone experience on the golf course yesterday was both a huge bummer, and then a giant relief.  I had placed it in our cart in the open shelf in front of my seat on the passenger-side.  This is where I always put my phone, sun glasses case, mini-digi and keys when I golf.  The protecting lip on this cart may have been a little less-protective than our carts at Geneva.

Anyway, I had taken a couple of pics with the camera phone at the tee on Hole #3 (which had a nice panoramic vew of the area) with the intention of Twittering a photo to my may follwers.  But I had to tee off and then we went searching for those shots and the Tweet wasn't sent.  When I had the chance a couple holes later to send the pic, the phone was gone!  After a frantic search of the cart and our then immediate surroundings, I concluded that it must have fallen off the cart somewhere on Hole #3.

We did a quick survey of the third hole after the discovery of the loss, but we all figured that it was gone.  Finding a phone on a gof course is like finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack.  So we went back to playing golf, and I spent the next three hours kicking myself for being so loose with my goods...and playing really crappy golf as a result.

When we got done, I suggested another look-see at the third hole, and we retraced our action as we originally had played the hole.  Just about the time I had given up, we took the cart around the green one more time, and there was the phone, in the grass along the cart path, on its face and coverd with dust.  No damage.  I thought I had won the lottery!

Low key day to the max on Harvest Path.  1.01 and I did 2nd coffee together this AM while 1 did her 14-mile training run.  (1 is doing the TC Marathon on October 7th.)  After coffee, we also stopped at the library and the neighborhood park.  She was a fine little girl.  I see more such un-parent-accompanied adventures for us in the future.

I did a 3+ mile walk a while ago and stopped at an open house that one of the builders was showing not far from here.  It wasn't so much of a home that they were speciically trying to sell, but rather a model that displayed the way that this builder did their homes, and the kind of things that a buyer could choose for a home to be built on a nearby lot.  Some basic observations on the model:

    1.  The footprint for the garage was bigger than that of my house.
    2.  There was enough room in the master bath to house a family.
    3.  4,000 square feet.  Rooms everywhere
    4.  It wasn't all that conspicuous in the neighborhood.
    5.  For $600K+, you could maybe get into it.  Love the mortgage.

OK.  1.01 and I are headed outside.  More here later.

BCOT

Thursday

Just a couple of lines this AM.  This is a travel day for LtPC.  At the office this AM, followed by an early afternoon meeting at a client's, and then off to Woodbury to visit the folks on Harvest Path for the weekend.  Look for Twitter updates today and, hopefully, some posts featuring 1.01 and 1.02 tomorrow and Saturday.  Back to Maplecrest on Sunday.

Speaking of the road, there was a story last week that the Ford Focus may be the biggest selling car in the world through the first half of this year (topping the Toyota Corolla).  That claim appears to be subject to a bit of a dispute between the manufacturers, but there's no question that you see a lot of Focuses (Foci?) on the road.  2 drives one, and the HOOPDRM is parked in @srh4's garage (both being older models).  The current version is a little bigger and sleeker, reflecting Ford's evolution of this previously smaller car to fit a broader niche with consumers.

I saw one at the Shell station across from Hy Vee the other day (prior to reading the sales volume story), and thought to myself that Ford had made quite an effort to spiff-up the car.  I'm not sayin' that I would buy one for myself, but the current product looks pretty nice.

(This is a situation where the manufacturer stuck with the same name as a model evolved over the years.  Not that long ago, the brains in Ford marketing thought that their next generation car in the Taurus' space needed a new name, and they came up with the moniker "Ford Five Hundred".  It tanked, and they put the Taurus name back on it and they rescued the line.)

Blogger's visit-counter is giving me some strange feed-back.  The Tuesday numbers keep going up while the Wednesday-visit-number stays at "4".  Hmmm.  Makes me wonder if the anomaly that I detected earlier this year on the bump from the Ashley Miller pic was just a Blogger page-visit-calculation problem.

Make it a good day.  See you on the road.

BCOT

Wednesday...UPDATED

I'm declaring our drought as over.  We had a another pretty good, sustained shower early this AM.  When you combine that with the soaker that we had a week ago, I think that we're past the dry season.  I'll have to mow my yard again.  Now that has to be proof of rain in our world.

I've found another place to lose my keys.  The other night when we spent the evening on the lawn chairs on my driveway, I had set the car keys aside (but obviously not inside, as I would later learn) after I had moved the Buick into the garage to create seating space.  The evening got long, wine was consumed (shock!), and I had The W to look after as well.  Once company left and I put the chairs away and shuttled the BBQ to the side, I thought I had gathered all my stuff (including The W) for inside.

The next morning when I was leaving for golf at Geneva, I couldn't find my primary set of Buick keys.  I knew that they had to be at my house because I had used them to move the car the night before, and I hadn't left the ranch since then.  Under a time watch, I had to use my back-up set to get going and meet my pal Ron.  The mis-placement really bugged me, but I had to defer the search until later in the day.

When I got back in the early afternoon, and after a walk with The W (when I tried to retrace my prior evening's steps), I looked again inside, and then on the driveway, the BBQ and the Beater (where I knew I had set the keys with the iPad before guests arrived).  Finally, my Holmes-detection-synapses kicked in, and I opened the garage and went straight to the collapse-able, cloth lawn chairs.  The keys were in the cup-holder of one of the chairs.  Of course they were.

I have no plans to watch either the opening game of the NFL season tonight, nor Day 2 of the media love-fest in Charlotte.  I mean, on the one hand, you have a bunch of Bubba's on the gridiron (many of questionable character) looking to punch each other's lights out.  Like I'd walk across the street to see those guys.  Right.  And on the other hand, you have another Bubba, lionized by his party as this year's Savior, who has elevated lying to an art-form; "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."  The Maplecrest driveway, wine and the Wednesday crossword sound like a great combo alternative.

I see in the paper this AM that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched 35 years ago today is still out there sending back data.  Hey, most people retire after 35 years!  Now this would have been 8 years after we first put a man on the moon, so there were some skills among the engineers in the program.  The remarkable thing is that the on-board computers have way less memory than an iPod Nano...and they use an eight-track tape recorder.  Suite.  Still amazing what the scientists of that era accomplished with the fraction of technology that exists today.  They truly were on the cusp of a New Frontier.

Hope the Peanut Gallery enjoys Wednesday.  And that 4 gets a good start to her work-week.  Thanks for reading.

UPDATE...Speaking of depressing news.  Check out this survey from Pew Research on the knowledge of our voting public.  And these are the folks who get to elect the President?  No wonder the Big O is going after the college students and the clueless. http://www.people-press.org/2012/08/10/what-voters-know-about-campaign-2012/

BCOT.

Tuesday

Welcome to Fall!  Well, its not really Fall yet, but with the passing of Labor Day, the down hill slide to the shorter days is in full swing.  It was barely light at 0615 this AM, a full hour after the starting time for the early rides in June and July.  The forecast has the heat with us a couple more days, but the expected cool of September should be here by the end of the week.  I look forward to that.

The weekend with The Winniferous was uneventful on Maplecrest.  She adapts to my lifestyle pretty quickly, and makes no fuss at night (which was originally a concern).  Other than tweaking my schedule to make sure that she gets her necessary outside time, a few days with The W offers little hassle.

Speaking of one's fallibility, I see in the news that actor Michael Clarke Duncan passed away over the weekend.  Heart attack in July from which he never recovered.  Now, I never knew that this was the guy's name, but I certainly recalled several of his credits.  He was a big guy, and was always cast in roles that somehow put his physical appearance to good use.  They called him a "character" actor, which I think is a euphemism for someone who is a second-tier star.  This first pic has him in a scene with The Rock in the Summer-trash movie, The Scorpion King.

I think that the guy could always get work.  He must not have been too afraid to try things.  Again, I didn't realize who he was at the time, except for his voice, but he played a supporting role in the remake of The Planet of the Apes, another Summer-trash flick.  TBS plays these movies all the time, usually twice in the same evening.

He had a very distinguishable voice.  I'd call it a baritone.  I think that he did a lot of voice-over in animated movies for kids.

Then he had a recurring role on TV in the Charlie Sheen insulting comedy, Two and a Half Men.  I'm guessing that he really didn't have to extend any of his talent in that show, since talent really wasn't part of the need.  Everybody and everything was just a prop for bathroom humor and breast jokes.

The whole point of this recognition is that the guy was just 54 years old.  Can you say, "Live like you were dyin'?"  Tim McGraw, you pretty well nailed it with that one.

I've got some ideas to follow-up on this idea of livin' like you were dyin, but I'll save that for another post this week.

Speaking of this week, its the annual Hawks-Clones football match-up, this year in Iowa City.  The early line has Iowa giving 3.5 to 4.5 with the Over/Under at 45 to 46.  Hmmm.  I'd be inclined to take the Clones outright as of today, based solely on Iowa's inability to produce offense last weekend in C-town.  The points are a bonus.  But I think the Over may be the bet too.  I have a few days to make my Final Decision.

The Irish are giving 13+ to Purdue?  Take P-U and the points.

All for this AM.  Maybe more this evening.

Make it a good week.

BCOT

Sunday

I actually started this yesterday, but then got distracted with The Winniferous, football, and an early evening of Rodney Strong.  Just never got back to it.  My bad.

It was kind of a dreary Saturday here in the 52722.  The remains of  Isaac finally arrived around 1000 in the AM.  Its never really poured, but consistent sprinkles, so no golf for LtPC.  But The W likes her walks along our various routes, so at least I got my exercise.  W has good muscle-memory...she knows where the wildlife likes to hang out.  She probably knows the local critters by name.

I checked in on the ND - Navy game a couple of times, but never watched much.  Either the Irish have upped their capabilities, or the Midshipmen have taken a step backwards.  And what can you say about those Hawks?  Actually, both games were really the equivalent of pre-season bowl games; scheduled for the benefit of fans, modest opponents, and fun atmospheres.  The fact that both of our preferred teams won makes the weekend a success, regardless of the scores.  (Kirk may not agree with that last statement.)

And props out to the "Clone fans.

The PGA Tour is out in Boston this weekend.  I note that here only to point out that this is one of the few tournaments that they run Friday-Monday in recognition of the holiday.  I'm guessing that total viewership may even out though as the Saturday round was broadcast on The Golf Channel, not NBC.

Speaking of other schedule-tweaking, the NFL is opening this Wednesday night, rather than their typical Thursday initial kick-off.  Something about not wanting to conflict with a political speech this Thursday in Charlotte.  Whatever.  I have my doubts if the same deference might apply if the other party's convention was the conflict.  Just sayin'.

The local air show ran into some unfortunate press this weekend.  Normally, the stories focus on the USAF Thunderbirds, or the Navy Blue Angels.  (They have the T-Birds here this year.)  But the news yesterday was a crash of an older Russian jet flown with an air act that I'm sure goes to lots of shows.  The pilot did not survive.  But there were no injuries to spectators, nor any significant damage to property.  Small blessings.

Any thoughts out there on the concept of Labor Day?  I'm thinking that our country probably celebrates it more these days as the traditional end to Summer rather than for the support of the unions.  I have too little interest to research the numbers of workers in organized labor these days, as compared to their glory years.  Unions had a real purpose initially.  The graft and emphasis on political muscle have combined to decrease their stature today.  But I still like their holiday.  Hey, I bet the Muslims in the Western cultures don't want to work on Christmas!

I know this isn't real exciting stuff that I'm sharing.   But you get what you get.  I'm headed over to the store to pick up a chicken for the grill. 

Golf tomorrow with my pals Cal and Ron.  Money will be on the line.

Hat-tip to 4 who is working her TGIF tonight.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy the holiday.

BCOT