Thursday

Blogger is going through another upgrade.  Not all that comforting to hear.  Gives me the same confidence as answering the door to, "Hello.  I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."  So far, the presentation is a bit confusing to the author.

So here's the latest on the cooked wallet.  I only had to replace one credit card, my health insurance card and a CPA membership card.  All three were melded together in an unrecognizavle blob.  Yet to be determined is whether the Dunn's card (with $16 still on it) can be detached from the leather with the identity strip still readable.  We'll see tomorrrow.

A replacement wallet is still not in hand.  Actually, I know for certain that when I got the last one, that it was one of two in the package.  (It's always a good plan to have a back-up!)  I've looked in the spots where that second wallet could/should be, at the office and here on Maplecrest, and of course, no wallet is to be found.  I haven't totally given up the search, but the bet is definitely the Under.  Sometimer's rules.  In the interim, I've got a small change wallet from Margaret's things in play.

I drove down the street to Hy Vee for lunch today only to be turned away.  All of the deli kitchens serving in-store or take-out meals were shut down because of a water main break near the store.  I had heard on the news that there was the water main problem, but I hadn't done the math on the restaurant business.  The economics of that event ripple through numerous spots.  The store loses money.  Employees lose hours.  Customers have to make different choices.  Bush's fault for sure. 

Speaking of economic losers, the boys who jumped into the snow removal business a year ago went from the penthouse to the outhouse in the space of a year.  In this area, those blades spent most of the last 5 months sittin' on the side of the parking lot.  Counting on Winter being reliable around here is a recipe for a bad result.

Props to a couple of Rock Island basketball players are in order.  Chasson Randle, a 2011 graduate of Rocky and a freshman guard for the Stanford Cardinal, just won the NIT.  (In front of 4K at MSG...less than half of the crowd in DSM for the Monday women's game reported on here Tuesday.)  And Don Nelson, long-ago Rocky grad, Iowa star, Celtic's champion, and successful NBA coach, has finally had his ticket punched to the HOF.  He put in his time.  Good for him.

Give it Away by George Strait on the radio.

1 reports acquisition of the two-seat bob.  I'll be curious how it works out.  I don't think that 1.02 will care a lick, but I've got my doubts about 1.01.  We'll expect reports, Kiddo.

Another busy day tomorrow.  These are the times when I have a call on my office phone, my cell rings, and my assistant knocks to say that there's somebody down at the front desk.  Lovin' it.

All for now.  Hope everyone has a good TGIF.

BCOT

Tuesday

It was a fun, but brief, evening in DSM last night.  With a tight schedule, I made good time on the way over and arrived at the Gateway Market shortly after 1700, actually a few minutes early.  The Market serves a NYC style menu, and gets the order to your table without unnecessary delay.  We had another good experience there.

I think that I am impressed with the ingress and egress to/from Wells Fargo Arena. Understand that Wells Fargo Arena is the same venue that 2 and I saw the concert in last month. My pal Doug obviously knows his way around downtown DSM, so we found rock-star-parking within a couple of blocks of the arena. 2 and I walked a little further than Doug and I did last night, but both times proved to be much easier than, say, Carver Hawkeye in IC.  And both times were in spots where we paid no fees.

Our seats were about at mid-level in the arena.  I was surprised that DSM would get that many fans to a women's game with no local connection.  They didn't have the upper bowl open, but the paper this AM said that they had 9K fans for the game.  It was a good crowd, although not that loud.  Tennessee had quite a few fans scattered throughout, and both schools had pep bands.

I had thought the contest would be a 20-point game, and I was right on target.  Tennessee just had no answer for the big Baylor gal.  As I commented on Twitter, I went to the game anticipating to cheer for Tennessee, but when the team came out for final warm-ups before introductions, they all had on matching orange sweats with "hoodies" covering their heads. Very unimpressed.  This whole thing rings of Duke lacrosse.  Sports and politics are poor companions.  When Al and Jesse get on the bandwagon, whatever the truth may be becomes secondary.  The Lady Vols were emulating the Heat from the other night.  Yuck!

I need to do a little research to find out the story behind the I-80 rest stop just West of IC.  They've gone to some effort to personalize the stop to Johnson County and education.  Check out the books on the pillars and on the building.  Something beyond the utilitarian design of most rest stops.  Who pays the freight?  Not complaining, just a bit curious on how those kind of things happen.

I made a quick trip by the library to picked up a book on CD to listen to on my trip yesterday.  I thought it was a title I had never heard of by an author that didn't register.  By the third CD, the cobwebs are clearing, and I think I've listened to it before.  What does that mean?

Busy day.  More here later.

NOW LATER:  I forgot to mention in an earlier entry this sidebar from my weekend of yard maintenance.  As I pulled my lawn mower from it's Winter storage spot in my garage, I had to move my snow blower to have access.  This being the same snow blower that had started after a little coaxing in November (before any cold weather), and then refused to fire the one time in January when we actually got some accumulating snow.  On a fatalistic whim, I brought the snow blower outside, gave it a single pull...and...it started immediately!  No choke lever manipulation, no sputtering, and no spark plug cleaning.  Classic stuff.

Not the best news out there today for about half of the world's spectator population: the London Olympics has decided that women's beach volleyball players will not have to wear bikini's for the games.  In an effort to "broaden the diversity of the sport, to encourage countries with more modest beliefs, and to reflect cultural conventions of various participating countries", athletes are going to be allowed to wear shorts and shirts. 

Okay, lets see how this works out.  Political correctness gone international.  I'm thinking that we'll have the equivalent of advertising for a Captain Morgan mojito party and the hosts electing to serve Ensure because it's better for you.  Where should I go?:  the California girls and the Brazilians on Court #10, or Pakistan and Iran over on the Stadium Court.  Whatever.

Still more later.

BCOT

Sunday

The new Home Page pic was taken just a little while ago on my re-repaired Fuji mini-digi.  I think it looks pretty good.  I took a few others around our office building just to get a sense of performance, and I think we're good to go. ( These guys have got to go!)

My weekend with The Winniferous has been non-eventful.  We do our 5-miles-a-day of exercise and she accepts her place at night penned in the laminated-floored kitchen.  It may not be as touchy-feely as with 2, but it beats being boarded.  Can't say that I'm looking forward to the week-long session that I face with her next month when 2 does her au pair duties on Harvest Path.

My pal Cal and I met at Dunn's late yesterday afternoon for a glass of wine.  He had had some on-call work before he was headed for a function at church and figured I was available.  Dunn's is a mutually convenient meeting place on his route to church.  Anyway, I need to chat with the owners about their wine service.  They just started serving wine a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure that the wine I selected had been open a week or more.  Couldn't finish it.  It wasn't that good of a bottle to start with.  They probably would be better off with a smaller selection that is dumped every day or two if not used.

There is a possibility that I may do a lightening strike over to DSM tomorrow evening.  My pal Doug has his tax stuff ready for pick-up. and he mentioned that the Baylor-Tennessee women's regional final will be contested at Wells Fargo Arena at 6 bells tomorrow night.  Hmmmm.  If the lay of the land is kept at a low roar Monday AM, I just may do make that trek.

I've been questioning myself this weekend about woulda-coulda-shoulda things about my writing after reading a review of a new book, Don't Put Me In, Coach, written by a one-time walk-on at Ohio State.  This guy did have the advantage of being close personal friends with a couple of high-end, D-I (and future pro) players, but he obviously had some writing skills, and seems to have managed to parlay his situation into something substantial.  He started with a blog.

Some possible titles for future LtPC literary efforts:

1.  Life on Maplecrest.
2.  Cycle Drafting As An Art Form.
3.  Coffee Shoppe Diaries.
4.  In The City, Never Far From The Farm.
5.  Me And The IRS: A Life On The Audit Trail.

More on this later.  My immediate future is another hunt with The W and some yard maintenance.  It looks like the first mowing of the year will come this afternoon.  MPN Jim has already done his twice!  I also have some Weed 'n Feed to lay down on my parking (on top of the pre-emergent) to try to get some control on all of the broad leaf weeds that have shot up on the space re-seeded by the city last year.  I'll be lucky if I can reclaim that territory as "lawn" this year.  It may be a two-year project.

More here later.

BCOT

Wednesday

The new pic won't last.  I snapped it from the driver's seat coming home Sunday.  A little fuzzy.

I really don't have much to add tonight.  But I need to take advantage of my last night before a weekend with The Winniferous.  2 heads North in the AM for three nights.

I did get the mini-digi back from FujiFilm today.  The shutter is operational.  Not sure if it's the same unit as the one I returned.  I'll be giving it a field test over the weekend to confirm functionality.   They use FedEx for delivery.  Between them and me, we gotta have $30+ invested in the transportation of the bugger!

This was the weekend two years ago that we did March Madness in DM.  My calendars downstairs so note.  4's little adventure off the I-80 track just West of DM was a real memory maker.  Hard to believe that at the same time of the year, we now have all the trees in bloom.  Not that I'm complaining.  Love ya', Al.

My pal Pete is having some (hopefully) minor surgery this week to trim off some meniscus in one knee and take out some hardware in the arm that he broke a couple years back.  My bet is that he will be back on the bike by the weekend.  He rode North last weekend and had to fight that same Southerly breeze that killed me in Minnesota.  We should definitely only be doing tailwind rides in this weather.  And pay for the transport home.

Looks like the April 15th party is moving across the river this year and will actually be held on April 20th.  With the 15th falling on a weekend and the filing date being pushed to the 17th, we run into a number of conflicts.  Bass Street promises a private room, "reasonably-priced" wine, and a big welcome.  Why not?

For the record, I have no problem with a photo-ID requirement to vote.  I probably have to show my driver's license a couple of times a week at the bank, medical office or airport, and I don't feel discriminated against.  I don't buy the hardship argument.

Along the same lines, but non-political, I saw a story today where employers are getting more investigative in the application/interview process and are requesting Facebook access from applicants.  Not only are there firms out there that will vet an applicants' Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in traffic, the personnel department itself gets upfront with the prospect.  It's a new world, eh?

Make it a good Thursday.

BCOT

Tuesday

Happy Birthday to Margaret!  By my count, she would have been 104 today.  I'm not entirely certain, but this pic may have been taken at Aunt Margaret's wedding in 1967.  That puts Mother at just shy of 59 in this photo.  Tahoe Phil or Aunt Martha may be able to confirm the date.

This also listed on the calendar as the Vernal Equinox.  I always have to check Wikipedia to get the definition of these things a little clearer in my mind.  While the easy way to define it would be the first day of Spring, or one of the two days in the year where night and day are basically equal, there's more to the story.  An "equinox" is actually a point in time where the angle of Earth's equator to the sun is just so.  An "equilux" is the term to describe a day where sunrise and sunset are closest to 12 hours apart.  That's already more than I care to process.

My venture to Harvest Path last weekend was a big success.  1.01 and 1.02 are great kids.  The Twitter pic's captured most of the highlights.  Here's a family photo at the park on Sunday morning.  1.01 has now mastered the art of walking up and down the small slides, and needs no help or encouragement on the bigger slides.  Given her interest in being outside, and her non-stop motor, she should sleep well!

We watched a lot of b-ball over the weekend.  The CBS distribution package for the tournament gave us all of the games that we could handle...and then some.  My level of interest is no where near it was a few years ago.  Not sure why that is so, but it is probably related to the decline in the level of competition.  Sure, there are the upsets, but no small factor in that reality is the one where the "really" good players are one-and-done.  Does Lehigh get by the Dukies if Kyrie Irving is still in school rather than running point for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers?  How can you get excited about Kentucky when their team is essentially an AAU All-Star program put together for one-year runs?  Graduation rates at Kentucky?  What graduation rates?

Switching to a topic with not as much interest in the Peanut Gallery, but a fav of mine, the international cycling season is in full swing in Europe.  Last Saturday, they ran the Milan-San Remo one-day race in northern Italy. It's one of the more celebrated Spring races for the peloton.  Close to 200 miles in length, it generally favors a strong sprinter with a good team rather than a Tour General Classification rider.  The hills near the end of the route are tough, but not the Alps, and the finish is flat.

Team tactics won the day, and my rider, Fabian Cancellara, got nipped at the line by one of the two wheel-suckers who drafted him most of the last several kilometers.  Cancellara is a horse, a time-trial stud and hugely respected in the sport.  He jumped up with the other two guys (who both had sprinter teammates in the bunch) on the last climb, and then pulled them down and toward the finish, keeping a roaring peloton a few seconds in arrears.  Cancellara is one of no more than a hand full of riders stronger enough to do this kind of thing.  If he hadn't made that effort, the three would most certainly have been absorbed as the other two riders were under team orders not to take the lead on the break.

So Cancellara (in black), knowing this, still buries himself in an effort to overpower the drafters for the win.  Only to have the guy on his wheel pull out and pass in the lunge for the line.  Is there a morality point here?  It happens in NASCAR all the time.  The old bump-and-run on the last lap.  Life's a beach.

Props to 2 for her efforts last weekend at the Figge.  She had them "painting like Pollock" on the square in front of the museum.  The U of Iowa Art Museum has recently issued marching orders for the much-celebrated mural that has hung at the Figge the last couple of years (since the big flood in IC).  This event was part of the "good-bye" celebration.  2 was in the local papers and TV.  Way to go, girl!!

I commented here last week about random solicitation calls on my cell phone, thanks to one of the commercial sites (I wondering Kohl's, Gap, or Delta) giving up my number.  Since then, I've actually received a text from a mortgage re-fi place.  Say, what?

And speaking of drama, what's a Tebow to do?

Maybe more later.

BCOT

Wednesday

Here is a gratuitous pic of 1.01 snacking on the driveway on Harvest Path Wednesday.  She's becoming a little girl, eh?

I guess this is officially tax-NCAA Tourney day!  I still have to do my clan picks tonight.

Unusually warm here today, close to 80.  I did my second outdoor ride of the week this evening, another 70 minutes on the bike path.  Lots of folks out with their dogs.

I had an RCL here today, but I'm not sure which one on the hit-parade appeared.  I'm thinking that it's still the second or third team.  Just glad to have the place cleaned. And glad that I remembered to leave money.  It was just a guess.

Thursday is the Ides of March.  In crossword-speak: Four-letter word for; Fateful March day.

I had an unexpected visit at my office yesterday from my old friend Michael from C-town days in the '70's who re-located here about 10 years ago.  I see him around town now and again, and had had him play golf with our group down in Muskie a couple of days last year.  In a bit of an effort to thank me for the golf rounds, he had had his artist daughter frame some golf prints that he had received somehow way-back-when.  They were delivered a month or so ago.  He called to check if I had hung them a couple weeks back, and decided that he needed to take action when he found out that they were still leaning on my bookcase.

So he shows up with daughter in tow just as I got back from second coffee.  Long story short, we moved several things around in my office to free-up the space on my main open wall, where she placed the three, roughly 20-inch square frames.  Pretty nice, actually.  I'll  add a pic here in the AM.  Michael and I basically did some of the "helper" chores and b-esed, and let her do all the measurements, hanging and leveling (with a very nice level!).  She had brought along all the equipment necessary to do the job.  Another statement for hiring special jobs out to the professionals.

The preliminary conclusion while we were moving the bookcases and other stuff in my office around to free up wall space was that there would be a flat-screen TV in my future to best accommodate the new arrangement.  But after Michael left and I started to recover from the disruption, I was able to fit my current TV back on top of the bookcase that it had been on, and as far as I'm concerned, we're "good to go" for the foreseeable future.  Heck, I have the thing on "mute" most of the time anyway!

There was some news out this week on the bicycle Tour of California which will be contested in the middle of May this year.   I think that the news was about which teams were on the Start List, which had a couple of unexpected omissions.  Anyway, I took the time to check out the route, and to suggest that it is a "tour" is a bit of a joke.  Granted, California is a big place, and the race is contested for just 8 days (compared to the 20 days of the real Tour).  But basically you have a smattering of days in the Bay Area, two days kind of on the road, and then finish with three days in the LA area.  Money talks.

My guess is that as long as this race stays funded and on this particular place on the calendar, they won't be planning visits to Lake Tahoe again to test the weather that forced cancellation and re-routing of the first two stages last year.  The May date is dictated somewhat by the pro tour schedule.  Cycling in the USA is hardly a major spectator sport, and keeping this race going is the number one objective.  Follow the money.

Concluding point:  does the current Peyton Manning situation, along with the NBA trade deadline drama with Orlando's Dwight Howard, suggest that pro sports are more about the money than winning?  To the players?  To the ownership groups?  You always hear the phrase "It's a business decision".  Interesting that a particular team's fans usually care only about winning, whereas the players and management wax on about the "business decisions". 

Okay.  Headed to bed.  The key question tomorrow: Do I make my annual trek over to Hooter's for the early games and lunch?  For the wings!

BCOT

Sunday

Selection Sunday!!  One of the more important days on the calendar over the years.  The Commish has sent out the formal invite to the Clan's pool. 

Another warm day in River City.  I did get out for an outdoor ride this afternoon on the bike path.  Lots of runners and cyclists on the roads this morning, and quite a bit of pedestrian traffic on the bike path this afternoon.  I had to stop at the bike shop up the street at the start of my ride to get an adjustment to a brake cable that had rusted-up over the Winter.  Those cables need to be swapped-out before I get on road rides. 

I didn't make any effort to adjust to DST this AM.  I really don't mind the fact that they do the time change, but it usually takes me a couple of days to get my wake-up time back to 0545.  That extra light in the evening is not a bad thing, but I'm not really able to take advantage of it until later this month.  Mostly, I like the warmer weather.

The exercise getting 4 to NYC yesterday was a little more exciting than anyone had anticipated.  A Saturday morning had more folks on the road than I expected, and there were lines at check-in and at security.  Fortunately, the end result was that which was planned, including the checked-luggage making it all the way to LGA with her.  So step #1 on the Road to Her New World has been successfully completed.  We're all interested in news from The Big Apple over the next few days/weeks.  It would be nice if a blog sprouted.  Good luck, Kiddo. 

The sending-off of 4 to NYC reminded me of the day a few life-times ago when Tahoe Phil left the farm for California.  He had graduated from Creighton, and had come home a last time, I guess.  Anyway, I would have just completed eighth grade, and had my own life to worry about.  I remember him backing out of the driveway (in an old DeSoto or Packard), and Mother and I waving good-bye.  And then Mother crying.  That would have been close to 50 years ago!

@srh4, and 2 and I talked on the way back from the airport about notable departures in our fam.  4's trip to Espana came to mind...another MLI send-off...when luggage just never found her.  But @srh4 came up with the broasted-chicken-at-Midway-airport story...which pretty much renders all other send-offs to at least second place. 

While on my ride this afternoon, I spent some time wondering if 2012 was a new-bike year.  My recollection is that the first road bike was a 10-years-in-business gift from my pal Bill.  That was 1992.  And the current bike was acquired 10 years later when I had decided that I needed to get my gear-shifters on the brake levers rather on the down-tube.  And I'm pretty sure that I rationalized at the time that it had been 10 years since I had acquired that first bike.  So if 1992 was the first year, and the second bike was 10 years later, what does that make 2012?  Hmmm.  Maybe I'll look at the sales come Fall.  If there's any cash left after #07282012.

One of the things that I noticed on the bike this afternoon was that while you may not ever forget how to ride a bike, there's some danger in an out-of-practice sense.  Clip-in pedals mean that you have to be attentive to balance and turning, or you may meet Rule #1 in a hurry.  When you've done nothing but spin bikes for six months, it pays to take things slow for the first couple of outings.

Augie's biggest basketball rival, Illinois Wesleyan, who tied with Augie in league play, and received an at-large bid to the D-III tournament, won their regional and are headed to the D-III Final Four next weekend.  My pal Cal is a Wesleyan graduate.

Study those brackets!

BCOT

Friday...PICTURE UPDATE

Let's make CJ Grandson of the Day!  Pic from this AM.  He's getting big!

Not really sure what happened to the input last night.  Usually, there is a disconnect from the Internet in the middle of things, but I didn't notice anything at the time.  And Blogger is pretty good about automatically saving what you have written every few minutes.  But, it happens, and it was too late to get back on when I hit the "publish" button and there were only a couple of lines to publish.

The IRS came to visit again yesterday.  The case under audit is a bit complicated and will go on for another month or two.  Stressful.  The agent is from Cedar Rapids and is very systematic in his appproach.  But I don't think that he is evil.  Which is a good thing.

My tooth implant seems to be working.  So far.  I had to leave work a little early on Wednesday as the procedure to place the new tooth on to the implant created a bit of a ripple in the force.  I pulled a vicodin from my private drug stash and was able to sleep.  After a year of a hole in the left side of my mouth for a year, it seems odd to have a full set of uppers!

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I went through a few extra loops to save probably not that many dollars on my latest venture to Kohl's.  RevKev, I'm thinking of you!  I had a $10-off coupon for Men's clothing and a 20% Off Everything that over-lapped so I figured that that translated to two new golf shirts.  Well, right before I went into the store, I thought to call @srh4 to confirm her current coupon, which was a 30% Off Everything.  So I did a u-turn and waited until I had her coupon .

Long story short: two new black (is there another color?) dri-fit golf shirts, and six pair of Docker's socks.  And four new wine glasses.  WWI?  All for $55 net.  And a total savings of over a hundo.  I kinda needed the socks.  The other stuff?  Meh.

I've been receiving some random sales calls on my cell phone recently.  The one yesterday came from some guy selling some home Internet security device.  I should have known that it was a bogus call when an odd, out of state number popped up on the screen, and there was a delay in the response when I answered.  I asked him where he got my number, and he said something to the effect of a correspondent service company.  Which meant that they bought a number list.  My response was an immediate "No thanks" and a hang-up.

My Yahoo mail regularly gets some odd receipts as the retailers exchange contact information.  Most of those, I don't even open.  The reason that I will answer the phone is that people can end up with odd area codes for their locations when they keep phone numbers from a previous home or job.  I guess I just need to let those funny ones go to voice mail, which the sales people generally don't use.

Some fff here this evening to celebrate 4's send-off to The Big Apple.  Not sure of the location, but I suspect that there will be a bottle of wine involved.  Or two.

It looks like the QC contingent has completed the re-booking of flights to Tahoe in July.  Still heading out on the 22nd from MLI with a stop in MSP.  But the big change is a stop and a plane change in Salt Lake.  We get into RNO later in the afternoon.  The return trip on August 4th is a similar itinerary.  Really don't have the warm and fuzzies with Delta on this.  Over-Under on there being at least one more schedule change before July?  Uh, the Over is too easy of a bet.

How big was that moon last night...and this morning?

Okay.  Make it a good TGIF. 

BCOT

Tuesday

Wow!!  Mid 60's here today.  I'm sure that we'll revisit the 20's and 30's, but it feels great not to have to wear the extra layers!

Our friends at Delta Airlines have cancelled the direct flight to Reno from Minneapolis in July, which means, 1) all that effort, stress and time expended last month to make those reservations at the lower fee was wasted energy, and 2) the airlines deserve their low customer satisfaction ratings.  The system didn't actually put out a traveler email notice.  @srh4 was talking with 1 who had noticed that that direct flight wasn't even showing on the schedule any longer.  An online inquiry to confirm our existing reservations produced the unannounced itinerary changes.

As I write this, we haven't concluded on the new schedule, other than we still plan to depart on the 22nd.  Much depends on the availability of seats on the alternative flights.  Given the airline's record, we could end up connecting through Atlanta.

My annual physical this morning was routine.  This was my first time with this particular doctor.  He had access to my previous records through the electronic files that the clinics now all use.  Blood work and chest x-ray to be reviewed later.  Nothing from his examination beyond, "Keep doing what you're doing."

This doc was acquainted with my previous family doc and offered up that the former doc may just have tired of adapting to "the new system".  Specifically, he pointed to the notebook computer that he was using for his notes.  And my old doc didn't subscribe to the "hospitalist" program whereby doc's don't visit their patients who are hospitalized, leaving that work to doc's employed for that purpose by the hospitals.  Younger doc's generally don't want to work as hard as the traditionalists, and the hospitals must see hospital-only doc's as another revenue source.  It's almost always about the money.

The clan members educated at St. Mary's in California can celebrate today their double-OT victory last night over Gonzaga in the conference tourney.  Their ticket to the NCAA Big Dance is now in hand.  Go Gaels!  (A great crossword word, too.)

George Strait appeared for a "do-over" concert at Kansas City's Sprint Center on Saturday night.  A week ago, the Saturday after we saw him in DM on the Friday night, he stopped his show after two songs with laryngitis or the flu, and promised to come back the next week.  Bummer.  I'm glad we didn't have to make the trip back to DM!  Anyway, 17K+ returned for the make-up concert, and got to see Martina again for the opening act as well.  How many artists actually do a full do-over that timely?  The Entertainment writer in the KC Star gave the show a good review.

In addition to the local FM station switching formats from classic hits to contemporary, the AM station on a sports talk format gave up Mike & Mike In The Morning from ESPN for a Fox Sports show that has nothing to offer.  Mike & Mike have way too many commercials, but they have some things that are at least mildly entertaining.  The substitute show is worthless.  I'm sure that its a case of ESPN access fees getting comparatively too high.  Follow the money.

Make Wednesday a good one.

BCOT

Sunday

Sorry for the absence of entries at the end of the past week.  There were a couple of business things in the evenings, and Friday was wine night with 2 and 4 over at Bass Street.  Come Saturday night, I kind of refused to admit that my social life was allowing me to blog on the weekend.

To get some meat on this bone, I'm making this an entry on "history".  Specifically, this will be the first effort to discuss my 30 Years in Bid'ness.

1982 was our second year in Davenport.  I was working as a Tax Manager for a local CPA firm located in an office building within walking distance of our home on Scott Street.  The firm was very structured with a primary owner who's style was a combination of greed and self-interest.  There were 3-4 "junior" partners in the practice who shared a small piece of the profits after their basic salaries, but the two major partners called all the shots.  And those junior partners all had non-compete provisions in their employment contracts.  By the end of the 1982 tax season, I had pretty well determined that I was not going to be a long-term employee with that firm.

The owner had given me some flexibility as I attempted to forge a new business in the business retirement plan market.  My experience with Arthur Anderson in Chicago had given me an expertise that was actually in relatively short supply here in the hinterland, and I had the idea that I was the man to get out in front of the game in eastern Iowa and western Illinois.  In the second half of 1981 and the first half of 1982, I made dozens of sales calls on bank trust departments and small law firms in an effort to make the business contacts with people whom I thought might be interesting in sending work to our firm.

I think that it was in the Summer of 1982 that I attended a two-day technical conference in Vail, Colorado presented by a plan documents vendor that targeted bank trust department officers.  The conference materials were designed to assist the professional advisers who used this vendor's documents to set up plans for small companies.  My recollection is that I sat next to a gal who worked for a small bank and who ran her department's plan administration business on her Apple IIE.  If there was a "moment the bell rang" for me, it probably was at that conference when I realized that setting up my own practice to do the things that I was skilled in was a do-able concept.

(Unrelatedly, that trip to Vail is one that I often recall when I consider our family's more recent history with Lake Tahoe.  Summer in the mountains was a new, exhilarating experience.  Cool, crisp evenings.  Beautiful scenery.  And $2 coffee too!)

I started to look harder at the new business idea later that Summer.  I actually put together a 3-4 person advisory group to get outside feedback on my idea.  A couple of bank trust department officers.  A couple of attorneys.  And 3's godmother's spouse.  (3 not being around yet, of course!)  The unknown fact was whether there was a true need, in sufficient volume, for the technical services that I planned to offer to prospective clients.  At that point in time, the technical landscape was in a bit of turmoil as the laws for retirement plans had undergone major changes that were still being digested.

In retrospect, one of the mis-reads in my analysis was the correct portal to end-line customers.  I had this vision that small law firms and small accounting practitioners would welcome a local resource to address their clients needs.  But those contacts never produced much in the way of fee-paying clients, largely due to competitive concerns.  Even though I was not doing accounting work or corporate tax work, other professionals in that business didn't feel comfortable with bringing in a possible competitor to their clients.  Over the years, I've had less than a handful of CPA's call me up with meaningful engagements.

(Finishing that point, I ended up with much better results from my contacts with life insurance agents, brokers, and to a lesser extent, the bank trust officers.  These were the people who held the investment accounts of the small businesses that sponsored plans, and they definitely needed various paperwork completed to keep the plans in compliance with the new rules.  It was a slow process to establish a footprint.  Another reality: if I hadn't eventually picked up meaningful tax work, I would never have made a decent living.)

By September of 1982, I had passed the point of no return and must have given notice to my employer around Labor Day.  In my mind, I've always kind of looked at November 1st as the start date for the new practice.

Looking back at the basic decision to hang up my own shingle, I was incredibly selfish to @srh4.  I mean, we had a 2 year-old, a new baby, and no strong indication by a list of known customers that I was going to have any cash flow in the near future.  My advisory board should have smacked me upside the head a couple of times to get me in-focus.  If I knew then what I know now on how hard getting started really is, I can't imagine making the same decision.



In February of 1983, the law firm in Rock Island that employed my pal Pete had gone through a break-up and the senior partner (Roy VdK) took me under his wing somewhat.  They had the space, Senior Partner Roy was interested in helping me, and I definitely needed the help.  So they had me come into their office as a sub-tenant for essentially piece rate rent.  This gave me access to office and secretarial services, a professional environment, and created several friendships that have lasted through the years (not even including my pal Pete).  This sub-tenant relationship went beneficially on for most of two years (until I met up with my pal Bill).  Senior Partner Roy occupies a high space, just below @srh4, on the list of those allowing me a history to write about.

I think that it is worth stating that I don't remember ever having a goal to own my own business while growing up, in high school, college, the USAF, grad school, or while with AA in C-town.  The thought that keeps coming back is that I was doing all this business development work for the Davenport firm and I just didn't see them as being where I wanted to stay.  And I didn't think that they could do the work (without me) that I was trying to acquire.  The stink that they made when one of the junior partners left in early '82 convinced me that I needed to leave their practice.  The Vail conference must have sealed the deal in my mind.

For many years, certainly up through 2000, I would comment to others that I wasn't sure that, had I had the chance to do it over, if I would have made the leap of faith.  Getting going from the ground up with no clients was just so hard.  In more recent years, particularly with the difficult economics faced by many Boomer's, that tune has changed to "no regrets".
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So that's what I can recall from those first days on my own.  It was a long time ago.

Make Monday a good one.

BCOT