Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Tuesday

So I'm back in the air, finally, for the return to the QCA. That ice storm in Dallas was a bit inconvenient, but ultimately, not the worst event in my travel history. I was delayed 24 hours. In the over all scheme of things, I can live with that.

I will say though, any future February trips with golf on the itinerary will be to Scottsdale or further South. Even with warm weather, the visuals of golf in central Texas in February are far from inspiring. Everything is brown except for the tee boxes and greens.

I'm going to list a few take-always from this trip just to record some unrelated observations. Sorry for the travelogue, but these have all had some recurring appearances over the weekend:



1. Every retail counter person came at me with lots of "yes, sir" greetings and responses. Either I've got that elderly appearance going for me, or these people are very polite.
2. My driving sense of direction isn't what it was in the past. How far it was in the past when I actually did have a sense of direction might even be debatable.
3. Having to eat out all of the time is awful. No wonder our population is obese. A steady diet of fast food has to be the worst.
4. Repeat of 3 above. For emphasis.
5. Not sure if it is the same feel throughout the country, but the endless supply of Walmart's, Shell station's, Subway's, and every you-name-it franchise on this trip made me wonder about where we are as the consuming public. Kinda like a never-ending blob of urban sprawl.
6. Every third vehicle in Texas is a heavy-duty, extended-cab pick-up with dual rear wheels and a front grill 10 feet wide.
7. There may be multiple zip codes for DFW. Small it ain't.
8. No smoking in restaurants and bars is a really good thing.
9. Traveling alone is ok, but I think that having a companion along adds to the experience...mostly. I think I deal with the delays better alone, as I can work, write and puzzle to make that extra time more palatable.
10. I have come to appreciate 2's counsel on packing each time I'm out on the road. Less is more is a great rule.

One indication of the mostly foul weather on this trip is that I never took the Oakley sun-glasses out of the case. And the lack of sun also discouraged use of the new Canon. Bummer.



Alamo made another's day rental as a result of my delay. (Ford Fusion this time. Not a bad ride.). I'm glad I kept the car rather than try to save a buck by turning it in yesterday. While my hotel was close enough to offer transportation to-from DFW, the shuttle wasn't running this AM due to the poor road conditions. I would have had to call a cab. And I had an extra night's lodging cost to add to my expense report. (I'm guessing that buried in the small print of my airline ticket purchase is their exemption from liability for any meal, lodging or transportation costs due to an Act of God. Whatever.)


Pitchers and catchers are reporting this week for MLB's start of Spring training. A-Rod is getting a lot of ink for his return from the season-long ban for use of PED's. The guy is 39 years old. He couldn't hit when he was 37. But the Yankees are on the hook for a big salary number, so he'll play. If he hits .250 and drives in 60 runs it will be a good season. Looks to me like, with their roster, the Yanks will be sitting home again come October.

Speaking of baseball, there was an interesting story in this morning's Dallas paper about a college coach who wanted to get the college season moved to start in April rather than February. (The season is in full swing in Texas.). I mean, really, with some history of playing in March in Indiana, such a move makes a lot of sense on the diamond. But with the MLB draft and the signings that always happen right after the CWS, this idea has like no chance of adoption. Too bad.

I remember playing in snow squalls at ND, even in April. You almost preferred striking out as opposed to putting the bat on a pitched ball. Your hands could sting for the rest of the day even if you hit the ball square, let alone if you got jammed and fouled something off the handle. It still makes me wince.

I see in this morning's paper that ND has exactly zero players named in projections for the top 25 in the up-coming NFL draft following the scouting combine that was held last week. Not terribly surprising given their won-loss record last year. But it does speak volumes as to why they are only fringely competitive on a national level.



I have no explanation as to why I couldn't get on here during my trip. I think all that may be of interest to anyone made its way to Twitter. The weather and travel logistics were a bit exhausting. Trying to plan for the best choices to deal with the weather-imposed schedule changes was work. Not necessarily overly stressful, but kinda always there. I'm looking forward to getting back to Maplecrest. I'm sure the ideas will re-appear.

Hope it is a Good Tuesday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

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