Friday, March 29, 2013

Friday

Just a few lines this AM to recognize the day.

I've changed the Home Page pic for the weekend to acknowledge Easter.  Throughout much of my life, Easter was a day of religious celebration.  There's been a lot of water under the bridge since those days at St. Pat's in Ottumwa when Holy Week was truly a week-long exercise of ritual and church-attendance.  But I think that it is still okay to believe in God and use this time in the calendar to spend just a few moments to consider one's fallibility.  We are not alone.

Good Friday was always an odd day for me.  Celebrating(?)  the crucifixion of Jesus Christ one day, with the knowledge that there would be a 180 degree turn in the Church's public persona the next day just never quite fully digested through my internal processor.  Not that I was necessarily a non-believer.  It just seemed a little too staged.

Enough on that.  Throughout my life as a father, I've always felt that a little religion was good for a family.  I still do.

My family for the weekend is The Winniferous.  With 2 up in the TC on Harvest Path for the weekend, W and I are roommates again.  It gets me out for some good walks each day. 

3 and 3.1 are also on the move for the weekend.  After arriving later this AM in Cedar Rapids from NYC, they'll be spending the day with 3.1's family in the Tipton/IC area.  Then it will be over to the QCA on Saturday morning, back to Tipton for a Sunday luncheon, and then once again back to the QCA later on Sunday with 3.1 heading back to the Big Apple.  3 actually will stay here Sunday night with a flight on Monday to Houston or Dallas on Monday.  Seeing the Parents is a bit of a juggling act in real life.

Glad to see the Cyclones give Hoiberg a new contact.  Not that that necessarily means he will stay for the entire term of the contract, but at least it looks good for the near future.  College coaches and contracts are not things to rely upon.

So I guess that I can say make it a good Good Friday today.

BCOT

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Tuesday

The women's tournament gets down to its Sweet Sixteen tonight with the completion of their second round. (No confusion on the round number here.  They don't have the First Four to confuse things.)  Iowa got a first round win Sunday and earned the opportunity to meet ND in Iowa City around 2030 CST this evening.  The Irish coach was crying in the paper this AM about having to play a "road" game as a #1 seed.

My recollection is that schools can bid on hosting these first two rounds, and if that school then qualifies for the tournament, the committee will automatically place them at that home location.  Why ND elected(?) not to bid for these games is a bit of mystery (although I truly don't care).  They do this automatic-hosting protocol to insure attendance for these games.  Curiously, the only site without a qualifying host school was Ohio State, where ND would have been the obvious choice for a top attendance draw.

Rather than send ND to Columbus, they had UCLA, Oklahoma, Stetson, and Central Michigan at that site. 
Attendance for the first night was 2,256, and for the second round last night it was 1,358.  Boy, that was a home run.

I was also surprised to find only one channel on ESPN broadcasting women's games last night, while they had at least two of their channels showing men's NIT games.  I mean, the only men's teams happy about going to the NIT are underachievers with thin resumes.  But the network chose those games over second round women's games.  (For the record, the Hawkeye men sold out both of their first two NIT games last week...15,500.  That women's double-header on Sunday with Iowa and ND in separate games drew less than 7,000.)

There's not a real palatable explanation for the reality that women's games are not that great of draws, neither for the live gate nor the TV audience. 

This is Tuesday of Holy Week in the Catholic Church.  I don't recall much in the way of rituals for Holy
Tuesday, but I did a quick check on Wiki of the scripture readings for the day, and one is from Matthew with the parable of the talents.  That's the one where a master gave three servants money/property to manage while he was away on travels. The first two servants invest/achieve profits with their allocations, while the third buries his share.  The master rewards the first two and sends the third out into the night where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Really not sure of the lesson there, speaking as a financial advisor where I didn't see a risk analysis performed by those first two servants.

Belated props out to 4 for handling a national hour-long newscast on Sunday afternoon.  Sounds like she has been sliding into a good place on her "day" shift.  All good news.  Congrats, Kiddo!

I checked the calendar and the first sign of my pneumonia issues came to the surface over two months ago.  Wow!  Although I got a little winded from a busy day yesterday, I think that I'm above the 90% mark for the first time since January.  Talk about a long hill to climb.  I'm looking forward to some warm weather to keep the improvement going.  Cycling goals for the early part of the season have been adjusted.  But I'll be out there grinding.

Back to the piles on my desk.

BCOT

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday

It might be Palm Sunday, but it feels a little like February here in the QCA today.  I don't think that we're going to have much in the way of accumulation, but it won't be a day to get a tan either.  I'm thinking that March is going to be a long month this year.

The next installment to my Tomah story may not get launched today.  I'm working this AM, there's the Iowa State game to watch, and probably some other distractions this afternoon.  Maybe late this evening.  So those of you out there on pins and needles for the wrap on that effort may need to cool your jets for now.  Sorry.

Baseball's Opening Day is a week from today in Texas.  Most of the teams are then scheduled for Monday, April 1st, including a home date for the White Sox in C-town.  Its not like there aren't a few early games postponed every year, but its really hard to get in a baseball frame of mind while we have snow showers.  The local high school Spring sports schedules have been mostly washed out except for some soccer (that they'll play in most any weather, except lightening).  Global warming fo' sure.

I remember games in late March and early April in South Bend when we would play in cold weather, and in occasional snow flurries.  Hitting the ball wasn't all that much fun.  Reminder to any of the baseball hopefuls in the younger generations in the fam: if you want to play baseball, go South.

Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines hosted the NCAA wrestling championships this past week.  Penn State came away last night with its third straight national team championship.  They are coached by Iowa State icon Cael Sanderson.  There has to be a story as to why he couldn't get that done in Ames.

Tiger has put himself in the lead at Bay Hill, kinda like what most people anticipated going into the tournament.  Like I said on Friday, he be the horse for that course.  But the real news out of the tournament is host Arnold Palmer putting the suite move on SI Cover Girl, Kate Upton.  Sure, it was entirely for the press, but hat-tip to Arnie for the effort. 

Interesting that the PR agency that Arnie has been tied to for decades also has a division for models.  With Upton's main claim to fame being those difficult SI cover shots for two straight years (that's sports, right?), this had to be a photo-op for her.  Like it was just a coincidental meeting.

My pal Bill and I were commiserating during a break from our tax return work yesterday about the increasing complexity of the input for 2012 returns.  I've become a proponent of the e-filing system, but like with any modern data-processing exercise, each year brings enhancements and refinements to the program.  Tax preparers and securities firms now have even more information to pump into the electronic files for each taxpayer.  Its no wonder that we have a progression to bigger government.  The IRS has more data to audit...requiring more auditors.  They'll eventually be able to trace your movements to the latrine.  Maybe they already do.

And that's before the implementation of the cluster-bomb known as the Affordable Care Act.  (Did they have a sense of humor when they came up with that name for the law, or were they just that ignorant?)

For the record, the aforementioned ACA is also known as the LtPC Retirement from Tax Preparation Act.

I may get back here later.

BCOT



Friday, March 22, 2013

Friday

With the NCAA tournament underway, the blog is kind of like next-day, rural newspaper delivery: its not news, just background stuff.  But for those of you checking in between games, here's some grist for the mill.

I haven't paid very close attention to the European cycling season this year, but the Spring Classics are in full swing.  In addition to a number of 4-7 day stage-races, they have several one-day races that are highly regarded in the sport.  There is a type of rider known as a "Classics rider", who tends to be a strong individualist who may rely less on teammates than some of the stars from the major, 3-week tours.  They aren't sprinters, and they aren't climbers, although the sprinters have a chance in these races if the hills aren't too bad.  The extended Winter weather this year has made these races almost more about withstanding the elements rather than the strengths of the other competitors.

UPDATE: One of the true Strong Men won today's race in Belgium.  Fabian Cancellara...they call him Spartacus...for good reason.

The PGA remains in Florida this week, at the Arnold Palmer event.  Tiger has won there 7 times in his career.  They talk about "horses for courses" as a way to describe the fact that many players play better on certain courses, usually because the course design fits their game.  Arnie's track, Bay Hill Golf Club, might be said to be a "Tiger course".  He's four behind after the first day, but I doubt if many folks are making bets against him on the weekend.

And NASCAR is back in California.  The 24 car is off to another slow start this season.  He had the lead last week at Bristol, but blew a tire and went into the wall.  There are a lot of good teams this year.  If you're off your game, you'll get shuffled to the rear with Danica in a heartbeat.

Cyprus remains a big topic in the business news.  I'm thinking that it is a concept thing rather than the size of the financial interests there.  Europe remains an uncertainty in the global economy.  The Euro currency is used by a federation of states rather than a single republic.  And with the lengthy history of the disagreements between these diverse states, its no wonder that they can't find common ground for their economies.  The problem as I see it is that you have all of this debt in the struggling countries, and the stronger countries not wanting to give unlimited further debt to the same folks.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to extrapolate out the same scenario unfolding in Washington.  Athens on the Potomac may not be just a curious title to an off-Broadway play.

I brought the Buick out for duty this AM and found that awful book from last weekend still in the CD player.  Sometimes on these weekend trips within the Midwest, I'll end up with the last CD for one of the books not quite done, and I'll play the rest of it at home to get to the end of the story.  Not so much for this one.  I did a status-check this morning and I was finishing CD number 10 of 14!  No way in the world I was going to punish myself with four more hours of torture.  I'm guessing that a few more people died, the girl protagonist was actually the bad guy, and the primary protagonist learned the hard way that there was a Dark Side to all of the other players.  I can live with that synopsis.

Next time, I'm considering just a few country music CD's from the '80's and '90's.

Getting close to Palm Sunday and Holy Week.  Sounds like it may be time for Phase IV of my story from Tomah.

Make it a Good Friday.

BCOT

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wednesday

I've messed this up before, but my records and recollection have this as Mother's birthday.  She would have been 105 today.  Happy birthday, Margaret.  You are Mother of the Day

And this is also the first day of Spring.  Funny.  As a kid, I always thought the seasons changed on the 21st of those months.  Actually, with the temps we're experiencing here this week, the season hasn't changed except on the calendar.  The local fish-wrap has a story about the ski place on the Illinois side making snow this week.  Yeah, that's a sure sign of Spring.

The memory wall in the basement on Maplecrest tells me that it is this coming weekend that was the one for FFF March Madness for a few years when we had the chance to pull it off.  DSM and MSP were good times.  Actually, this may be the anniversary of 4's visit to the ditch on I-80 just West of DSM.  A scary night, but a memory too.

As I mentioned on Twitter last night, those First Four games are being televised on TruTV which seems a little odd to me.  I had initially thought that TruTV was a CBS-owned enterprise, but checking Wiki, I see that it is own by Turner Broadcasting.  And CBS and Turner have an agreement on broadcasting the early rounds of the tournament.  Whatever.  I guess the $$$'s just aren't that big for the First Four, and junkie's will find the channel, regardless of the camouflage.

I also finally picked up on the subtle notation that they have come to call the First Four the "First Round" of the tournament.  When they had the Selection Sunday show, the talking heads kept making reference to the second and third round games, and I couldn't figure out their math.  The NCAA and CBS are so snooty when it comes to these kind of things.  Like they always hated the term "the play-in game".

Kentucky proved with an exclamation point last night that they didn't deserve a bid to The Big Dance when they failed to show-up for "the little dance (NIT)", and dropped their game to Robert Morris.  Robert Morris?  Calapari is such a schmuck.  Never thought he was much of a coach.  But he's always been able to recruit.  This current bastardization of the game, One-n-Done, wasn't his idea.  He's just operating in a flawed system.

Anyone have deposits in Cyprus?  Good luck with repatriating those funds.

If you hadn't noticed, RevKev has posted a couple of times recently.  He needs your support!

Make it a good Wednesday.

BCOT



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tuesday

Just a few lines today to recognize the start of the tournament.  Opening round games in Dayton tonight.  For most office pools, these games are disregarded in the brackets game.  That's an interesting point, but, really, who cares about the 67th and 68th teams in the tourney?

The womens' brackets were announced last night, and Baylor will have to get passed both UConn and ND to win it all.  ND would get Baylor in the semis.  Previously unbeknownst to me, Iowa is a sub-regional host this weekend, and the committee curiously sent the Irish to Iowa City for their opening games.  The Iowa women also play an 8 -9 game Sunday evening, and the winner plays ND (assuming they can get by the 16 seed!) on Tuesday.  I still am thinking about going over for the Sunday games at Carver Hawkeye.

There is a huge drop-off in skill-sets between the first 15 teams in D-I and everyone else in the women's game.  Those top four seeds could be given byes into the third round and a few more schools could have the tournament experience without changing the end results.  I'm betting that those top four seeds won't have a game closer than twenty points in those first two rounds.  Takers?

My latest case of Sometimer's is the power cord for my iPad keyboard.  The keyboard is Bluetooth, so it has a separate battery from the iPad, and a distinct connection cord.  In the last 3-4 months of travel, I've used several bags/carrying cases/duffel's for my standard have-to-take power chargers, drugs, glasses and other loose items.  I made an initial search last night for the keyboard cord and batted zero.  There's one duffel that I can't locate, but even when I find it, I'm taking the Under.  Really annoying at this point.

I have my annual physical this morning.  I have low expectations as I think the guy will just review my pneumonia progress.  There may be an Executive Check-up at Mayo's in Rochester in my future.  UPDATE:  I still have a pulse and some blood pressure.

Aunt Rosie makes her first appearance on the blog as Sister of the Day.  We had a very enjoyable lunch at her place in Olathe on Saturday.  Kansas City remains on my list of favorite places to visit.  Country Club Plaza is worth the trip.

Unseasonably cold here this week.  My calendars reflect local bike path ventures at this time of March in most of the last several years.  Not so much for 2013.  They're saying it will remain below normal all week. And this is the first week of Spring?   Bummer.

Arrianna Huffington is the guest host on Squawkbox this morning.  I get that she has made a footprint in the media world with her website.  But her input on a show primarily devoted to the securities market is a stretch. OK.  Its NBC and they're fully in the tank with the koolade drinkers.  I get that too.  But her presence today made my early switch to Bloomberg TV a lay-up.

Gotta go.  Make it a great day.

BCOT



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sunday - Not-so-short Short Story Phase III 3/17/2013

Thursday - Metting Preparation

EJ pulled out of the gas station and into a parking lot across the street, parked at the end of the lot, and opened his iPad.  He noticed that the lot was to the side of a very attractive building, and his further view confirmed that it was the town library and museum.  He could just make out the name O'Rourke on the cornerstone at the base of the end of the building closest to the parking lot.  "Yeah.  That's a surprise", he said sarcastically to himself.  He knew that he was short on time so he went to Google Search and typed in "Tomah Wisconsin" and double-clicked the first item.

Unfortunately, his Verizon connection on his iPad was slow to load information from the city's Home Page, and then gave him an error message about an incompatible Flash update.  When he elected to shift to a search on Badger Ag, he found the company's website to be set up primarily as a sales ordering and tracking utility.  There were no pages on the company's history, ownership or news/press releases.

With his time-envelope shrinking, EJ then entered "O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation" into the Google search window and was rewarded with numerous hits from a variety of sources.  The Wisconsin State Journal had run an article on the O'Rourke family in 2005 which detailed the key points in the wealth formation of one of the state's best success stories.

Maddie's Daddy, Dillin Padraig O'Rourke, had immigrated to the USA from Ireland with his parents in 1925 when he would have been just 5 years old.  After a couple of years in New York, the family followed another family from County Clare, the Flynn's, to Wisconsin.  The families combined resources and opened a small foundry in Tomah to support machinery shops with connections to the dairy and farm equipment industries.

The business survived the Depression, and the O'Rourke-Flynn Foundry actually acquired two machine shops that were unable to handle the financial stress of the times.  By the late 1930's, the plant had expanded several times and had developed relationships not only with the growing automobile manufacturing sector, but also with the US Army.  The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 signaled the start of a 20 year period of explosive growth for O'Rourke-Flynn.

Dillin was always at his father's side at the plant.  He had done well in school, particularly with math and science, and it was obvious to the families that Dillin was the long-term future for the business.    He was in the middle of his sophomore year in the Engineering College at Iowa State when the Pearl Harbor news came across to the public.  He enlisted in the Army Air Corps the day after Christmas, spent nine months in flight school in San Antonio, and then the next four years flying C-47 Gooney Birds in Europe and in the Pacific.  After the war, it was back to Ames to finish his degree, which he did in 1948.  Following his college graduation, he returned to the family business, making Tomah his life-long home.  By 1960, Dillin was elevated by the families to the position of  Chief Executive Officer.

The Flynn's lone child, daughter Mary Madeline, was born in Tomah in 1930.  She had a rambunctious spirit from her earliest days, and showed talent in all variety of the arts, eventually settling on the piano as her expression of choice.  Julliard in New York gave her early-admission after her junior year of high school in Tomah, and following her formal training there, it was a five-year stint with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She finally returned to Tomah in 1958 to tend to her cancer-stricken Mother.

It came as no surprise to the townspeople, and was extremely welcome news to the families, when Dillion and Mary began dating in 1960, were subsequently engaged, and then married on July 20, 1961.  Madeline Marie O'Rourke was born July 28, 1962. 

Over the next twenty-five years, Dillin O'Rourke became a legend in Wisconsin business circles.  He developed relationships with major US manufacturers like Caterpillar, Illinois Tool Works and John Deere to supply "on-time" delivery of parts inventories.  O'Rourke-Flynn went International, supplying high-spec parts to customers in Brazil and South Africa.  Investors flocked to participate in joint ventures with anything carrying the O'Rourke name.  New York investment bankers welcomed the opportunity to distribute the financial instruments to fund any new expansion proposed from the O'Rourke brain-trust in Tomah.  Success followed success.

Finally, in the early part of 1987, Dillin O'Rourke made the choice to accept a Goldman Sachs offer to take O'Rourke-Flynn public in a new offering on Wall Street.  In addition to securing and sheltering the O'Rourke's legacy wealth in the transaction through a series of trusts, Dillin's tax advisors had him take other steps to address his philanthropic goals for a large portion of the IPO proceeds, and thus was born the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation.

One of Dillin O'Rourke's other concerns in the transaction was the protection of the jobs of the company's local employees.  To this end, the Tomah plant was spun off as a separate company and excluded from the IPO.  As part of that spin-off, the land that the plant sat upon was deeded to the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation, and a favorable (but not cheap) 99-year land-lease would be inherited by the new owner.  The selected buyer of the Tomah facility was also to be provided with a number of long-term sales contracts that virtually guaranteed profits for years to come. 

After reviewing the bona fides of several purchase proposals for the Tomah operation, Dillin O'Rourke eventually accepted the offer presented by Mandel Inc. from Brainard, Minnesota.

After the dust had settled from the IPO and the sale of the Tomah plant, Dillin and Mary spent much of their time at their Summer home, high on the bluffs above the Mississippi River, just North of McGregor, Iowa, looking eastward across the river toward Prarie du Chien.  They doted on their daughter and granddaughter.  When Winter started to roll in, they would head South and enjoy the warmth of their condos in either Scottsdale or San Diego.  

By the terms of the original documents, they held all of the voting shares of the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation and were active Directors in setting the strategic plan for the foundation.  In addition to the many grants made to the City of Tomah for civic projects, the Foundation was a major benefactor of the arts throughout Wisconsin.  Dillin O'Rourke passed away in 1999 at which time all of the voting rights in the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation passed to Madeline Marie O'Rourke.

"Wow", EJ said to himself when he had completed reading the Journal's article (as well as a couple of other's saying much the same things).  "Miss Maddie O'Rourke must have enjoyed her "just-visiting-Mother" shtick with me this morning."  Not only did EJ feel "played" by Maddie about her relationship with Tomah, he had that uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind that his impending meeting at Badger Ag was going to be about more than just the design of a commercial loan package to fund a plant expansion project.  If he were a betting man, he'd be taking the Over that the O'Rourke name would be part of the discussion.

EJ  checked the time at the top of the screen on his iPad and saw that it was 3:50.  Time to go.  He backed out of his parking spot at the library and reentered Superior Avenue, then took the first left-hand turn onto Clifton Street and headed East.  In three blocks, Clifton Street became Badger Avenue, and housing gave way to warehouses, rolling stock and storage containers behind chain-link fencing on either side of the street.  The street ended with a sizable round-a-bout, nicely landscaped, with an entry-point to the plant offices directly behind the circle.

He took one of the "Visitor" spots marked at the entrance to offices located at the front of a larger building. The facility looked similar to others from EJ's experience, with modern offices added to an older building which looked like it too had been expanded upon over the years as well.  It was a common growth pattern for successful, growing companies.

Inside was a modern reception area with several upholstered side chairs. a couple of small coffee tables with magazines, and a glassed display case along one wall holding on its shelves dozens of machined parts.  The room was empty except for himself and the attractive 30-ish woman with the name-plate "Jennifer" sitting behind the desk of an "L" shaped secretarial station.  "Good afternoon," she said.  "May I help you?"  EJ wasn't exactly sure of his best response since he had never talked to nor met Karl Mandel.  As a compromise he said, "I'm EJ McKay.  I'm here for a 4 o'clock meeting with Mr. Mandel.  I spoke earlier with his assistant, Ms. Reynolds."

"Oh yes, Mr. McKay.  They're waiting for you in the conference room.  Let me take you there."

Jennifer stood and led EJ through a door next to her work station and down a hallway with nondescript, windowless offices on either side of the hall.  She reached what looked to be the final doorway in the hall, made a graceful 90-degree turn to face EJ while opening her right arm toward the room to show him that they had reached his destination.

"Rhonda," she said, "Here is Mr. McKay."

EJ stepped into the conference room and was immediately met by a tall, middle-aged woman with short, salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a dark business suit and a white blouse.  The woman wore little make-up, small black onyx earrings and a complimentary strand of onyx pearls around her neck.

"Hello, Mr. McKay.  Welcome to Badger Ag.  I'm Rhonda Reynolds."  She extended her hand and made a firm shake while continuing, "I know that Mr. Mandel is very happy that you adjusted you schedule to come to Tomah today.  He just got in from Chicago a few minutes ago, and should be down here from his office shortly.  Let me introduce you to the other gentlemen here."

Rhonda released EJ's hand, stepped back  and motioned for EJ to follow her over to an open area at the far end of the conference room where three other men were standing.  "Gentlemen, we have our last participant with us now.  This is EJ McKay from Cedar Rapids."  EJ was just a step behind Rhonda and made eye-contact and an acknowledging nod to each of the other men.  Handshakes and short greetings followed each introduction.

Roger Simmons looked to be 40-something with a receding hairline and was maybe developing some middle-age girth around his midsection.  He was the internal controller for Badger, meaning that he might be the head bean-counter with the company, but Karl Mandel had not elected to promote him to CFO when his veteran financial assistant had retired.  He would be the guy responsible for all of the data used for management and financial accounting within the business.

Dan Carpenter might have been 35, had on a well-tailored Brooks Brothers gray suit with a magenta-colored tie, and flashed overly white teeth with a politician's smile.  He introduced himself as the regional representative from the Wisconsin Economic Development Office.  "Bingo," EJ said to himself.  "Politician."

The last hand shake was with Michael Stinnis, from Woodbury Figge & Stinnis, CPA's.  Michael was in the standard CPA uniform, dark suit with an unremarkable tie.  He let EJ know that his firm had done the audit and tax returns for Badger Ag for the last six years.  EJ could tell that the 50-year-old Stinnis took some care with his fitness and wondered to himself, "Marathon man?  Maybe.  I'm betting a cyclist though from the tale-tell tan lines above his wrists.  Biker gloves."  Unlike Carpenter, Stinnis came across as a low-key type who might have preferred to have been back at his own office where he could control his own productivity. 

Sounds came from the entry door to the conference room and the four men turned to see Rhonda Reynolds lead her boss into the room.  Karl Mandel was a dark-complected, stocky man measuring an inch or two below six feet.  His dark, short-cropped black hair carried just a few flecks of gray.  He had the look of a Mafia soldier.  The open-collared,dark-blue dress shirt, gold neck chain and gold rings, cuff links and Rolex added to the effect.  EJ wondered if Mandel's Mother was Italian rather than German. 

Mandel strode over to the group of men and greeted all, "Gentlemen.  And EJ, especially, thanks for making the trip.  Eddie said you were the man.  I hope you have your thinking-cap with you.  We're going to need it.  Anyone need coffee? A soda?"  And then turning to his assistant, " Rhonda, have them save one of the side rooms at the club for a 7 o'clock dinner.  We'll work here until 6 or so and then head out there to continue our chat if we need to.  And I think we'll need to."

"Yes, sir," she said.  "I'll stick around until you break for dinner, just in case you need something.  I'll be at my desk.  Just ring me if I can help with anything."

Mandel then turned to the men and motioned them to the long conference room table.  "Let's sit down and get started.  Maybe Roger can give us a little summary of the lay of the land, and then we'll give a listen to Dan's idea about financing that new facility in the industrial park.  You have the floor, Roger."

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Saturday

Throwing up a few paragraphs at a late 2nd Coffee here in Overland Park.  I needed a second cup to try to bring me back from all my preferred teams losing yesterday.

I had a tough time finding a Starbucks, and eventually ended up at a Marriott where I've previously attended a couple of conferences , and there's one of those in-lobby Starbucks...that's not really a Starbucks.  But they were able to make an Americano, so my addiction is once again sated.  I thought that Google maps was a bit cryptic with their indications of Starbucks locations.  I wonder if there's some politics involved?

Interestingly, as I sit here in the lobby, using the Marriott's free lobby wi-fi, I may be the only English-speaking individual within hearing range,  There's some Japanese/Chinese businessmen's gathering going on, and they aren't practicing their ESL.  We are a global society.


Another example of the incredible  lack of awareness on my part came on my selection of Interstate entertainment as I left the QCA on Thursday.  I stopped at the Bettendorf library to get a selection of books-on-CD for my trip.  I always get three books as protection against the "bad" choice.  Well, my first selection for the ride to Des Moines was a bit tedious, so after laboring through most of the first two disks, I elected to go with radio music the last few miles to DM.  I went to the Plan B book upon my Friday mid-AM departure to KC.  After most of the first CD of that book, I figured out that I had listened to that book on a previous trip.  (I couldn't remember how it progressed, or how it ended, but I knew that I had been through it before.  So on principles, I rejected a mindless rerun of an undistinguished story.)

Besides, I had the back-up to the back-up sitting on the passenger seat.

Well, Plan C then went into the player, and it took about half of disk #1 to determine that I had also listened to that one previously.  So with considerable reluctance, I went back to the first book from Thursday...and I'm still listening to that one.  It isn't a page-turner.  I'd call it annoying.

Maybe for my next trip I'll need to force myself to look at the lowest shelf in the library as opposed to the mid and upper shelves that are more easily reviewable as I walk the aisle.  Whatever.  The current system has flaws.

One of the items of news in Des Moines on Thursday was that Drake had fired it's men's basketball coach.  I didn't even know the guy's name, but he had not distinguished himself with his record.  And Northwestern has pulled the plug on Bill Carmody after 13 years...and no NCAA appearances.  His teams were often competitive, but he could just never get consistently above so-so.  The math is pretty easy in D-I basketball: win or you're gone.  In the top 5-6 conferences, that departure is usually 3-4 years.  The smaller conferences may let a guy dangle a little longer.  Everyone needs fans in the seats.  Money is money.

That 80-degree day that they had here yesterday was a one-day deal.  (But it was a very nice one-day deal!)  It was back in the 40's this AM and they're forecasting near freezing temps for the nights over the next several days.  (I had noticed on my Wall of Memories calendar that March 14th had been an 80-degree day in the QCA a year ago...and that I had put in 70 minutes on the bike path.)

My friends Doug and Carole and I dined at a fairly low-key place in Des Moines Thursday night called The Flying Mango.  (This is a pic of the primary dining room.)  The menu was toward Cajun fare, and I'd rate my meal of blackened catfish with sauteed veggies and an au-grautin potato dish as good, but not great.  The sauteed veggies were mostly smallish Brussel sprouts with a couple of onion slices.  (Note to self: ask what's in the sauteed veggies next time!)

Rarely have I seen a wine list where I have no knowledge of any of the listed red wines.  Doug is a beer drinker and Carole is a tea-totaler, so I was actually looking for something by the glass.  But with so little to choose from, and after confirming that a partly-consumed bottle could go home with the customer, I went with a bottle of an Italian blend that was mostly Sangiovese...for $22!!!.  And a screw-off non-cork.  The result?  Not awful, and probably worth the $6 that it likely cost the restaurant.  They had me take it home in a long Italian bread bag.  Very classy.

OK.  Enough rambling.  If all goes well, I'll be back on Maplecrest tomorrow in time to get published that long-promised next chapter of my story from Tomah.

Enjoy the weekend.

BCOT





Thursday, March 14, 2013

Thursday

I've been a little deficient here this week.  The Road to Perdition is paved with good intentions.

I have no issues with the new pope, Francis I.  Not that his role will likely change my life.  I'm kinda glad that the election was a relatively short process.  If the College of Cardinals had had a big difference of opinion, and the conclave had extended like a Florida-Hanging-Chad election, the USA press would have been merciless.  Now they'll have to move back to trashing anything non-Left.

There have been at least a couple of stories in the business news this week about glitches in the electronic-filing system for some tax-return preparers for 2012 returns.  H&R Block has had an issue with around 600,000 Federal returns claiming a student credit.  And Minnesota had a general warning out for any of filers using Intuit programs (including Turbo Tax).  We see a little of this on a recurring basis.  The IRS sometimes imposes limits on returns that their software has not yet been updated to receive electronically (which might explain the student credit returns).  And the filing software's are huge programs subject to the normal programming-oversights requiring fixes.  Welcome to America.

I've become a cynic on the play-lists of our local country music radio station.  On my four regular, daily car rides (to work, to second coffee, to lunch and going home), it is virtually certain that songs from Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Zack Brown Band, or Little Big Town will be played.  Throw in Taylor Swift and its not even a bet Vegas would make.  Not being a huge fan of the new wave of country-rock-wannabe's, I've taken to 2's standard reaction to Carrie Underwood and just turning off the radio.

I've toyed with the idea of getting Sirius for the Buick, but that really doesn't make much sense as I don't drive that car regularly for local travel.  The Beater isn't even equipped with Sirius technology (or a CD player for that matter).

Lots of serious conference basketball tournaments today.  In another lifetime, I would have been "out" most of the day.

It has dawned on me recently that while I keep trucking along supporting the economy, others have passed the baton.  Additional signs of LtPC's advancing age:

1.  My family practice doctor has retired.
2.  My general dentist has retired.
3.  My optometrist has passed-away.
4.  My pulmonologist no longer sees patients.
5.  I'm the only one of my brother and sisters not on Social Security.

If I wanted to be further depressed, I could extend the list, but you get my drift.

Busy day for me.  One the road later this afternoon.  I'll post Twitter updates.

BCOT

Monday, March 11, 2013

Monday

Yeah, my intention to get the next installment of my story up yesterday met up with reality, and I couldn't quite get 'r done.  Sorry.  I'm close to publication, but it will take some non-Winniferous time to get there.  No promises for today either as 2 doesn't get home until later this evening.

Ugly weekend weather-wise in the QCA.  Rain, fog, snow showers, dirty melting snow.  More of the same today.

I can't say that the papal conclave is keeping me up at nights.  Isn't this the equivalent of the US Senate electing our President?  Looking at it that way, the complications of the deals/promises/back-stabbing suggest the plot-line of a new movie, Zero Dark Thirty, Italian Style.

Short week here for me.  I'm headed over to DM for a Thursday evening dinner with my friend/client Dr. Doug, and then down to KC Friday morning for a couple of business meetings that afternoon.  Friday night and Saturday will be Big 12 Tournament time with my pal Jake.  Back home Sunday.

More later.

BCOT

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Sunday


Today is the One Year Anniversary of 4 making that one-way-ticket move to New York City.  She's Daughter of the Day.  What a great year for her!  You 'da Girl, Kiddo!  Congratulations on your successes.

More later here from EJ and Maddie.

BCOT

Friday, March 08, 2013

Friday

(Home Page pic changed just for today.  Tomah will be back up tomorrow with a continuation of the story about EJ McKay and Maddie O'Rourke.)

Putting up a little entry this morning to recognize the start of the weekend.  We could be 40 degrees or more today, with some welcome sunshine.  When I took 2 and her friend Jessi to the airport around 0545 this AM, there was actually daylight.  With Spring officially only two weeks away, I guess we should be expecting a general improvement in our weather conditions.  Glad to see it.

Looks like the securities markets are going to get a bump today.  The employment report was better than expected.  Still lots of doubts among the prognosticators on just how solid the economy is for the average consumer.  But its hard to fight a rising tide.

I have The Winniferous for the weekend.  With @srh4 also on the road doing Grandma Rescue work on Harvest Path, I don't even have the luxury of a pinch-hitter for the mid-morning "let her out" break.  At least it won't be so cold that we can't get outside for some walks.

The governing organization for one of my professional designations that I have held for over 25 years (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist) has finally decided to implement a continuing education policy.  This is probably overdue, but it creates another small administrative requirement to to keep straight in our office files.  There are so many designations out there, and they all compete with one another to sign up professionals who work the retirement plan/employee benefits/securities/insurance/financial planning markets.

The CEBS designation required 10 proctored, two-hour examinations over the course of a couple of years when I completed the program in the mid-80's.  It was really a pretty difficult path to get through the courses and prepare for the tests.  I wanted a designation that I could use to promote my new business, and I was the only guy with that designation in the Quad City area for many years.  Ultimately, I don't think it did much for business-development, but I have continued to use the designation as one of my professional credentials.  Now I have to make sure I have 30 hours of CPE every two years to keep it current.  And shockingly, there will be new fees associated with the CPE program.  I love this country.

We have had a small (I think) anomaly in our accounting firm's electronic tax filing system.  We received notice earlier this week that there's been some kind of compromise in the use of our firm's unique registration number.  Which means that we have to purge the system for a couple of days to get all of our existing transmissions out of the pipe-line, and then be assigned a new electronic-filing-firm number.  We've been doing these returns for 7-8 years, and they have a ripple in the system now?  More Nigerian hackers?

I think that it has to be racist to call the schools behind the new Big East basketball conference "The Catholic 7".  Where's the outrage in the main stream press?  Oh, I forgot.  They're Catholic schools.  You can call them anything and get away with it.  I mean they follow that Dark Ages outfit in Rome that doesn't support the right (Left?) causes, right?

How disingenuous is the White House to cancel the routine tours of the place under the sequestration premise when it takes a mental midget to find millions of dollars still being spent by official Washington on their normal bureaucratic largesse?  I remain in favor of sending the whole lot of those now in the House, Senate and White House to retirement in the private sector.  (I was going to say retirement from public service, but that would suggest a distinction that is extremely debatable.)

So make it a Good Friday.  Good luck to all those on the road.  Safe and successful travels.

BCOT

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Wednesday - Add 0n



So this was the paint-scheme on the #33 Chevy on Sunday.  It actually took me a while to find this pic.  I think that one of the announcers just gratuitously came up with the idea that it was a Pollock.  An educated Red Neck?  Whatever.  It looks better here than it did on the track.  Just sayin'.

Its worth noting that the driver of the car is Landon Cassill, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  He came up in NASCAR through the Hendrick organization, so he has some bona fides.  The team has some history as well, and is co-owned by a guy out of Virginia by the name of Joe Falk.  Falk definitely isn't deeply funded, but he has a bit of a connection with Childress Racing and seems to be able to find some fringe sponsors that keep allowing him to race.

There's some more interesting information about NASCAR in-breeding with the 33, Childress, Austin Dillon, Phoenix Racing, and 2014 rides, but Patrick is probably the only reader who would get through it. So I'll leave it to him to do his own following of that thread.  Your welcome, Peanut Gallery.

BCOT

Wednesday

EJ and Maddie are still wandering their way around Tomah.  Stay tuned.  But it will probably be the weekend before I can get enough time to finish their tale.

Winter storm Saturn dumped around five inches on Maplecrest and on my regular haunts of the coffee shop and the office park.  Not really all that big of a mess, but most of the schools made it a "snow day", and the media weather folks had lots to chatter about throughout the day.  I see where the East Coast will have to deal with the same storm system today.  Relax, people.  It ain't all that bad.  Snowmaggedon or snowquester  will be over-used terms by the end of the day.

The Hawkeye's managed to best Illinois last night in IC.  I watched part of the first half, but couldn't muster the energy to stay with it for the second half.  (My pals Roy and Cal were there in second-row seats.)  Neither team was very sharp, and it was just too hard to watch.  The result does speak to the testimony that in these major conferences, winning away from home is hard for every team.  That has always been the case, of course, but with most of the teams now relying on lots of freshmen and sophomores, there's just not that toughness factor that can carry a team against a home team with the crowd behind it.  Another by-product of the One-and-Done rule.

Actually, a better example of trouble of winning on the road would be the ND women beating UConn the other night in triple OT in SB.  I had watched the game off and on during the evening, but actually turned to something else when ND got down by six at the start of the first OT, and had just committed their fourth straight turnover without getting off a shot in the OT.  It didn't even occur to me to return to the game, and I didn't see the final score until the next day.  UConn couldn't stand the prosperity, made mistakes, missed free throws, and ND pulled it out in the 3rd OT.  It ain't over 'til its over.

I have no explanation for the rise in the market.  My theory at this point is that the mountain of cash that has been on the sidelines, for years, is oozing into the market.  This is the result of the Fed printing money, fixed income returns at nominal levels, and Wall Street's disregard of the toxic political environment.  But volume is not that high, companies aren't spending huge amounts on CapEx, and you still have the uncertainties of Europe, China and the price of oil.  But how long can you sit on a pile of cash earning zero?  The "Not losing" argument gets pretty thin with stocks reaching new highs everyday.

I converted my desktop browser to Google Chrome last week.  Still trying to figure out the enhancements(?).  Our system here at the office (including my laptop which is also in our LAN), has our third-party IT contractor constantly monitoring the system for spam and malware, but there's something missing on the uniformity with commercial updates on things like Adobe and other common software's.  I'm always afraid to hit "Yes" when I get those on-screen messages for updates.  I can just imagine how many Nigerian hackers are waiting for me to be their favorite brother-in-law.

Make yours a Good Wednesday.

BCOT

Monday, March 04, 2013

Monday

For those of you waiting on bated breath for the next addition of my story in Tomah, Wisconsin, relax.  I'm giving it a rest tonight.  If the moon and stars line up correctly, EJ and Maddie will be back in action tomorrow.

I won the Under bet that Danica wouldn't finish on the lead lap yesterday in PHX.  She didn't finish, period...blowing a tire and taking a hard hit into the wall, and a secondary broadside from another car when she bounced off the wall.  Ouch!.  The team never had that car set to run right the entire weekend.  She was destined to a bad finish when it came out of the hauler on Thursday.  On to Vegas.

Tiger lost two or three balls during the tournament last weekend.  Lost the balls.  As in loss of distance and a stroke penalty each time.  I mean, we lose balls all the time at Geneva.  But even with the blimp and the gallery, Tiger couldn't find 'em, and he had to make those long walks back to the tee for another go at it. Humble he ain't.

We are anticipating more snow in the next 24-36 hours.  There was a head-fake of it this AM, but we just got a dusting.  Now sunshine.  The local weather guys are saying 3 -10 inches...as in, "We have no clue!"

I'm giving the nod to 1 as Daughter of the Day.  She took 1.01 to Disney on Ice last night, making memories for her little girl.  You're a great Mom, Kiddo.

Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT




Sunday, March 03, 2013

Not-so-short Short Story - Phase II 3/3/2013

Thursday Afternoon

EJ was congratulating himself on his productive morning while he ate his club sandwich at the cafe two doors down from Caribou Coffee.  It was now shortly after 1330 hours.  He had been able to speak with two clients on the East Coast about a letter that they would be getting from the developer of a real estate project in Vail, Colorado that had hit a snag.  Some yahoo inspector in the Eagle County Engineer's office had demanded an architectural change in the first building now going up.  It would throw things back almost a month.  What a crock.  But getting the information to the clients was a good move and would eliminate a surprise to them and an angry call to EJ.

There was also some good work done on an open IRS dispute on another client's taxes from 2009 and 2010.  The Service had disputed the depreciation and investment interest deductions on those returns.  EJ hadn't been able to educate the young agent who had conducted the original audit, and who wrote up the disallowances, but her supervisor sounded a little more flexible this morning.  The "new" IRS was no different from the old IRS, EJ thought to himself.  His clients were mostly "99 percenters", and the agents went by the book with those taxpayers.  Everything was a battle.

Finally, he had been able to put together a couple of proposals for one of his other major clients, Richard Longwood, that had been on his to-do list for almost a month.  Richard was thinking of pulling in his risk-profile and wanted some suggestions from EJ on hedging alternatives.  EJ had called this morning a contact with the Notre Dame Endowment office who had a lot of experience with alternative investments.  The results of that call and his subsequent research produced some documentation that Richard was really going to like.  EJ smiled as he considered the unexpected progress of getting that project off the starting blocks.

EJ motioned to his waitress for his check.  He had plenty of time to make the 3 PM meeting, but he needed to get back to the hotel to make his 1400 late-check-out time, and he thought he wanted to take a short drive around town before going over to Badger Ag.  As he crossed the parking lot back to the Hampton, his cell phone rang.  "EJ here", he answered. 

"Mr. McKay, this is Rhonda Reynolds from Badger Ag.  I hate to say this, but Mr. Mandel is still at O'Hare.  They're in line for take-off, but it looks like the earliest you will be able to meet with him is 4PM.  He still wants to do the meeting today.  Is this a problem for you?"

As he listened to Rhonda, EJ was steaming.  He was screwed.  "I can't say that I'm thrilled at that, Rhonda, but yes, I'll be there at 4.  Anything else?"

"No.  But Mr. Mandel did say that he would like to take you and the other gentlemen to dinner at the Hiawatha Golf Club after the meeting.  He hoped that you would be able to stay.  Will you?"

Again, EJ grated his teeth.  "At this point, yes, I'll stay.  But I may leave early so that I can get home tonight.  I'll see you guys at 4."  He disconnected the call as he walked into the hotel lobby. He sat down in one of the arm chairs in a small alcove by the elevator and pulled up his calendar on his iPad.  He only had two things scheduled for Friday, a routine monthly conference call at 1000 with one of his money managers in Minneapolis, and a 2PM meeting in Iowa City with a broker who wanted to bring EJ in as the advisor to a corporate retirement plan account.  Both of those commitments could be moved to next week without a problem.

EJ stood and walked over to the lobby counter.  The representative's name-tag said, "Kristen." 

"Well, Kristen, I had hoped to check out now, but it looks like my day has blown apart, so if its not a problem, I'd like to keep my room another night.  How's that look?  I'm in 314"

Kristen smiled and said, "Let's see.  Hmmm.  314?  Mr. McKay?  Yes.  I see now.  Actually, Mr. McKay, just as I thought, we have plenty of rooms open tonight.  It will be no problem for you to stay where you are.  I can even give you the same rate.  Please initial here so that I can record everything for our system."

EJ signed off on the card, thanked Kristen for her help, and took the stairs up to his room.  He called his office to let them know that he was being delayed, and had his assistant call his Friday appointments to make alternative arrangements for next week.  He checked the securities markets and was relieved to see that trading had been flat all day.  He activated his Out-of-Office response on his email, and then took a quick look at Tomah on Google Maps to make sure he knew the town's general lay-of-the land to find Badger Ag.  Satisfied that Tomah was small enough that he couldn't get lost, he headed out for his car.

The Hampton was on the North side of town so EJ took a right out of the parking lot onto Superior Avenue and headed South toward what should be the center of town.  He knew that the county seat was Sparta, a bigger town a few miles to the West on I-90, so there wouldn't be a courthouse square.  But these small Midwest farm towns had a tendency to keep active "Main Streets", especially when there wasn't a Walmart too close by to make life hard on the independent merchants.

A couple of blocks later, the street converted to an ornate cobblestone design, as were the wide side walks.  Superior Avenue took a hard turn to the right and then a left as the street made way for green space and a criss-cross of walks.  EJ pulled over to a parking place and stepped out of his car to take in the landscape before him.  Tomah's town square was one of the most finely manicured little parks that EJ had seen in his travels through rural America.

"Wow," EJ said to himself.  "Either the city maintenance folks here are all Master Gardeners, or they have a Fairy Godmother taking care of non-essential services."  The gazebo at the center of the park was also immaculate in design and condition.  The gazebo rested on a wide, stage-like platform that had two steps built all the way around on all four sides for ease of access. All EJ could think of was to question whether the movie Pollyanna might have been filmed in Tomah!

He took a minute to walk to the other side of the park and saw a small plaque mounted in a large stone sitting amoung a separate garden of sparkling, multi-colored blooming flowers.  The plaque said: 

Veteran's Memorial Park
Gardens and Gazebo
Dedicated July 1, 1984. 

And then in lettering at the bottom of the plaque that EJ actually had difficulty reading, was the acknowledgement:

Funded and Maintained by the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation.

EJ read that acknowledgement two more times to confirm he was reading exactly what he thought he was reading.  "I'll be darned. My workout and coffee acquaintance might have been holding back on me.  I guess she did say that her Daddy had had enough money left over to do some legacy funding for the town.  Remind me to ask a follow-up question or two on that next time, Sherlock."

Still working through the realization that Maddie O'Rourke had probably sand-bagged him a little in their coffee-shop conversation, EJ returned to his car and continued his drive South on Superior.  He still had about 45 minutes until the meeting at Badger Ag so he pulled into a Shell station located at a bigger intersection near the edge of town to fill up on gas. 

While the gas was pumping, he had the thought that maybe he should use this time before the meeting to do a little Internet searching on Tomah, the O'Rourke Family Charitable Foundation, and just maybe, some information on Daddy O'Rourke.  He didn't like surprises, and he now had that sinking feeling that it was a flicker that he had seen on Maddie's face as he left her at Caribou.  "Okay, Maddie O'Rourke, I'm game.  I was born in the dark, but not last night.  Just what am I in for at Badger Ag?"

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Not-So-Short, Short Story....Phase I 3/2/2013

Wednesday Evening

Edison Joseph (EJ) McKay made the trip from Cedar Rapids (IA) up to Tomah, Wisconsin with a little reluctance, but his cycling friend (and best referral source) Freddie Louden had said that the owner of the successful John Deere tractor parts supplier there was in critical need of advice on the financing of an addition to the plant.  EJ felt like there had to be a long line of suitably competent financial advises between CR and Tomah, but Freddie was insistent. 

Karl Mandel had been a high school classmate of Freddie's in Brainard, Minnesota, and the two had stayed close over the years.  While Freddie went to law school, Karl had taken an apprentice's job right after graduation at the local dye and machine shop.  He worked hard, made a few promotions, and then started dating the owner's daughter.  The rest is history.  The wife's father bought the Badger Agriculture Machining plant in Tomah 25 years ago and put Karl in charge.  It was a home run for everyone.

But Karl never developed a keen sense for the accounting and finance aspects of the business, and relied upon a CFO who had come along with the original acquisition.  The CFO had finally retired last year, and Karl had yet to find the right guy to come in as a successor.  With the new deal approaching quickly, he had asked Freddie for some advice, and his advice had been to bring in EJ.  So the appointment was set for 0900 Thursday morning, and EJ made the nearly four-hour drive after leaving the office Wednesday evening.

EJ pulled into the Hampton Inn in Tomah a little after nine.  The hotel was a nice place that must have been built within the last three or four years, so everything was pretty new and looked very professionally maintained.  As he parked his car, EJ was pleased to see a Caribou Coffee location across the street in a little strip center with several other retail shops.  The Hampton's continental breakfast was always ok, but the coffee was never quite up to EJ's tastes.

Check-in was seamless, and the room had a nice king size bed and a work area with desk and side chair on the far side of the room.  EJ sat down in the chair and opened the bottle of Rodney Strong Cabernet he had brought along to satisfy his night-cap habit, making a generous pour in one of the in-room plastic coffee mugs.  Very classy, he thought with a smile.  He fired-up his laptop to check the email that had pinged-in throughout his drive, thinking that it was a mixed blessing to have the technology that created access 24/7 for his business.  "You're never below radar, Hotshot," he said to himself.

He had finished handling all of the email that required some kind of response by shortly after 10PM. With the cup of wine also gone, he was inclined to take a quick shower to wash the grime of the drive away, and then watch Leno's monologue before calling it a day.  As he reached for the computer's "Off" switch, another email popped-up, this one from Karl Mandel's executive assistant, Rhonda Reynolds.  "Emails this late are usually not good" thought EJ.  His instincts were correct.

Rhonda's message was brief:

"Mr. Mandel's trip to Chicago today has extended into tomorrow morning.  He can still meet tomorrow, but the new time is 3PM. I hope that this isn't too inconvenient.  There's nothing we can do at this point. Please call me in the AM to confirm the new time.   Thank you.  RR"

EJ knew that practice development meant that the prospective client almost always had the upper hand during the initial courtship.  Service providers like himself were there to sell themselves as being of-value to the customer, and businessmen like Mandel often tested the limits of just how much effort, inconvenience and energy EJ might extend to an undefined professional engagement.  "Right, Karl.  You're busy.  I'm just a schlump anxiously waiting around for you since I couldn't possibly have anything else to do." 

With his morning appointment now delayed, EJ elected to have another plastic mug of Cab, and flipped the TV over to ESPN to catch a late game from the Left Coast.  "Freddie will owe me on this one", he muttered to no one.  The game was dull, kind of like the headache that he had developed after Rhonda's email, so he took some ibuprofen and turned out the lights shortly after 11.  He figured he'd make the best of it in the morning, maybe now being able to get an unscheduled workout in before his trip to the Caribou shop.

Thursday Morning

The nice thing about the newer Hampton Inns was that they usually had a pretty good fitness room.  The Tomah hotel was no exception as the room had a total of five machines, a couple of stability balls and a nice mat area.  EJ stepped onto one of the treadmills shortly after 0600 and turned the ceiling-mounted HDTV to Squawkbox on CNBC.  There wasn't a lot of pre-opening action in the market, and the show degenerated into the guest-hosts spouting the talking points of their respective political affiliations.

Around 0630 the door to the fitness room opened and a women walked in, taking a spot on the elliptical machine next to EJ's treadmill.  She had the look of a traveling executive, athletic and dressed like she had spent some time at a club.  Their gazes crossed and she gave EJ a hint of a nod and a very demure smile as she put in the ear bits to her iPod. "Pretty gal", EJ said to himself as he returned his attention to the business news.

EJ completed his seven miles a little before 0700, wiped down his machine with the disinfectant-wipes and headed for his room.  Executive Gal was still pounding the elliptical as he left the fitness room.  EJ stopped at the breakfast area off the hotel lobby on his way back upstairs and grabbed a couple of oranges to insure his daily consumption of fruit.  He always figured that the hotels could do little harm to un-peeled fruit.  Not so much so for those waffles and iffy-looking muffins.

The good news was that there were no new email concerns that had come in over-night.  So after downing both oranges, and then showering, EJ figured that he deserved an Americano at Caribou Coffee where he could list-out the tasks that he would try to get done from the hotel that morning.  A meeting cancellation did have the benefit of creating some open-time to make calls or do research that would otherwise have to wait for another free moment.  So with iPad in hand, EJ left his room, hustled down the stairs, and took the short walk across the parking lot to the coffee shop.

Caribou was not that busy, and Barista Mary Pat was a cheery girl with a good chat.  She put an extra shot of expresso in EJ's cup, and her smile earned a dollar tip in the jar by the cash register.  EJ also bought a copy to the New York Times from the rack, figuring that he would disregard the op-ed page and concentrate on the sports section and the crossword.  He took a seat in one of the two easy chairs with good natural light near the front window.

The Americano hit the spot, and EJ had reviewed all of his client accounts on his iPad by 0800.  The data-processing company responsible for all of the record-keeping of his trading activities had developed a program last year that downloaded to a single spreadsheet the end-of-day account balances as well as any prior day trades for his key clients.  If there were big variances from day-to-day, EJ would see it first thing in the morning and be able to make any client calls before a worried customer made the call to EJ.  "At least no fires today.  At least not yet," EJ mused to himself.

By 0815, EJ had moved on to the Times with the thought to move over to his business planning by 0830.  The door to the coffee shop opened and he looked over to see Executive Gal from the fitness room at the Hampton walk in and over to the counter.  She had surveyed the customer seating area as she waiting for her drink, and gave EJ another brief nod as their gazes crossed.  EJ returned to his paper and was intently digesting a box score a few minutes later when he was startled by a small forced-cough and an unexpected greeting, "Good morning again!  It looks like you have the best seats in the house. Do you share?"

EJ smiled and made a welcoming motion with his hand in the direction of the open chair .  "Absolutely, and at no cost," he said.  "Good morning to you as well.  Good work-out?  I usually don't see many co-masochists on the machines that early.  I'm EJ McKay."

"EJ," she said, seemingly doing a quick inventory, as if to confirm a prior meeting.  "I don't think that I've seen you here before.  I stay here at least a couple of times a month.  And I don't see many folks in the hotel's fitness room either.  Glad to meet you.  I'm Madeline O'Rourke.  My friends call me Maddie."

"My pleasure Maddie.  And this is my first time at this Hampton, as well as my first time in Tomah.  Business.  I'm from Cedar Rapids on a sales call.  The meeting was supposed to be this morning, but got pushed back to this afternoon.  I'm treating myself to a little leisure time before heading back to my room to hopefully make this morning a productive one on the phone or computer.  Technology helps these situations not be totally lost causes.  How 'bout you?"

"Oh, I live in Highland Park, north of Chicago.  I come here to look in on my Mother as frequently as I can.  She's in an assisted living place about a mile from here.  She's 83 now and isn't doing quite as well as before.  She has some dementia, but still recognizes me.  We always have the same conversations.  It would be easier if I could get her to move down closer to me, but she won't have any of that.  She's lived here all her life."

EJ had had some of that same experience with his parents.  And he had seen it over the years with both elderly clients and with younger clients and their parents.  Lots of hard decisions.  So EJ moved the conversation in a different direction with Maddie, "Do you work? Kids? Are you training for an event?"

Maddie responded, "I serve as the Executive Director and sole Trustee of The O'Rouke Family Charitable Foundation which I have re-located to Highland Park.  Daddy was a very successful businessman in Tomah many years ago and his financial and tax advisors put together some extremely creative things that not only took care of our family, but also provided a legacy fund for the town.  My work is basically oversight, as we have a full-time staff of five who handle all of the day-to-day stuff."

She continued, "I have a daughter, Jessica, who is a senior at Northwestern this year.  She thinks she wants to be a lawyer!  Don't we have enough lawyers in the country?  Jessi's dad is a lawyer and my biggest thrill from our divorce was getting rid of that office in home where he literally lived the last two years of our marriage.  Jeesh!  Anyway, with the Foundation not requiring me full-time, and with Jessi out of the house, I have been doing some low key weekend running events.  I may do a half-marathon later this year if nothing else comes up to interfere.  Are you a runner too?  You seemed to know what you were doing there on the treadmill."

EJ replied, "Mostly I do fitness for conditioning.  I haven't been competitive for years, other than against myself.  I like to do some road cycling from late Spring through early Fall.  Working out four-to-five days a week seems to be the right amount for me."  EJ checked his watch.  It was getting close to 0900 and he felt like it was time to get back to his room and make some calls. 

Maddie saw the look at the watch and said, "That's the look of a man needing to leave.  No worries.  I have my Kindle in my bag. I don't go over to see Mother until eleven, and then I usually stay until just before her dinner.  She eats better without me there for some reason.  I haven't decided whether I'll stay over another night or not.  That depends on how well things go with Mother."

EJ would have enjoyed more conversation with Maddie, but he knew that there were several items that could be done before his meeting that afternoon.  And it wasn't like there was much likelihood that a social arrangement between Cedar Rapids and Highland Park was in his future.  "Maddie it was a pleasure meeting you.  I think that I'll be headed back home this evening.  Good luck with your mother."

"Nice to meet you too, EJ.  Good luck with that meeting.  Say, you never said who it was with.  My family goes back a long time here.  I bet there's a connection."

EJ thought for a moment about Maddie's inquiry and concluded that he had no fiduciary issue with sharing the name, and said, "The guy's name is Karl Mandel.  The company is Badger Ag.  You heard of it?"

Maddie gave no sign that she recognized the names.  But she said, "You know, I bet Daddy did know that company.  But I've been gone from town too long.  Maybe Mr. Mandel will remember the O'Rourke name."

EJ thought that he detected a slight flicker in Maddie's face as she gave her response, but if there was something, it was gone in less than a heartbeat. He stood, gave here a final, "Have a good day," departure greeting, and walked out of the coffee shop.