Friday

Let's get this out of the way early...yes, it is Friday the 13th.  Not sure if I believe in bad karma because of a date.  Looks like a beautiful day on our local weather map.  Margret is on the prowl.

1 and 1.1 are visiting the sisters in The Big Apple this
weekend.  This shot is from 1's Twitter feed last night.  A bit of fff in the big city. Enjoy!

Another lesson in rental car economics came unexpectedly to the fore when I went to reserve my Hertz car for the SF-Tahoe-Reno trip next month.  The estimated charge for the 10 day rental was in the area of $2,300!  If the return was to SFO, the ticket went down to my original expectations of somewhere in the $800 range.  And the website says that there is no charge for dropping off at a location different from the pick-up site.  You betcha!.  Plan B is still in process.

There's been a big travelling classic car show yesterday and today in Bettendorf.  Lots of people have asked if I was taking Margret in as a participant.  While Margret does present a nice appearance from across the parking lot, she's definitely not a show car.  She's a driver.

The US Open Golf tournament is being played this week at the Pinehurst #2 course in North Carolina.  The US Open course set-up is typically the most challenging that golfers face each year.  Par is always considered a good score.  Usually, the rough grass is allowed to grow to several inches and an errant shot means a hack-out to the fairway.  But this year, they've taken a slightly different route to humble the world's greatest golfers.

They've refurbished the Pinehurst course by bringing back the natural, coastal sand-scrub for the rough.  Much like a desert course, if you aren't in the fairway, you're in the junk.  Plus, the greens at Pinehurst are the dome-top variety that tend to have good approach shots roll off the green and require chip shots instead of first putts.  Some very good players shoot some high numbers.  My pal Ron and I might need a couple extra sleeves of balls to make it through eighteen at Pinehurst.

(Interestingly, the US Women's Open will be on the same course next week.)

Off topic...

One of the irritating left-leaning voices in the MSM (aren't they all?) is Chuck Todd who appears on various NBC networks.  Rarely failing to promote a progressive talking point, Todd has shown little shame in tsk-tsking those of us in the wasteland.  I recently picked up on a factoid from his history that goes some distance in explaining his bias.  Turns out that he was a staffer for our very own Iowa prairie populist, Tom Harken, in a 1992 campaign.  Apples.  Trees.

Here's an article that reports on the change in commencement speakers that occurred at ND this Spring.  I had read nothing about this in either the national press or alumni news releases.  http://ndsmcobserver.com/2014/05/notre-dame-seniors-react-change-commencement-speaker/  The originally scheduled speaker had to back out for health reasons (apparently).  The students quoted in the article suggested that the first speaker was an old, white guy past his prime, whereas the new guy was a Harvard-educated man of the people in the streets.  Hmmm.  Another Harvard community organizer brought in by Father Jenkins to speak to the graduates.  Let me get my checkbook.  Inspiration.

All for today.  Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT