Tuesday

Road day. Back from DM. Got to share a late afternoon SB's with 4 in IC on my way home. A good trip.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the cast is off. They gave me a removable Velcro splint/wrap to be used as needed. It's great having both hands to take a shower. Just the simple task of washing one's hands is now a bit of a treat. I have a long way to go to get to a normal mobility for the thumb, and even then, it will probably be at some reduced range of motion.

In a weekend of forgettable domestic activities, I had the carpet in my second bedroom swapped-out (for carpet and pad that I had salvaged from my front-room make-over a few years back), an effort that I had planned for at least a couple of years. I had given my number to one of the guys who was on the crew that replaced some tile and carpet here at the office last month, and out of the blue, he calls me Friday afternoon and says that he can do it Saturday morning. After about three, "Who's this's?" from me, I finally figured out who he was and gave him the green light to do the job.

It took him and his spouse/assistant less than an hour and a half to rip out the old (carpet and pad), put down the new pad, and then measure out, cut and tack down the replacement carpet. And get rid of the rest of my remnant, and vacuum the finished room. With a 10 minute smoke break in the middle. His charge? $67. (I think he mentally valued my humble abode and figured that I was not all that flush.) I gave him a hundo and told him he needed a minimum fee in his pricing structure.

4 no longer has any carpet in reserve for a possible future need in IC or elsewhere.

The "community" Taurus has a new operator for a day or so. Mom has her car down for some scheduled maintenance and is using Black Beauty. It's been a good Plan B option over the last year or so. Knock on wood.

There was a time when I would schedule months in advance to get to the Iowa-Iowa State game. Not this year. The Clones would be better off playing the "Meek" Irish.

Have a good one.

BCOT

Monday

I am headed out this afternoon for an evening event in Des Moines, and I have a morning meeting there tomorrow. So my entry here will be brief.

USA Today today had a story about a Mommy blogger who is getting 100k hits or more per day. She's got six kids, and "kids say the darnedest things", or something to that effect. Anyway, it got me thinking about who reads what on the Internet. So here's my uneducated assessment of that point:

1. Girls through age 20 or so read entertainment and gossip stuff.
2. Boys through age 20 or so read about games, sports and porn. Not necessarily in that order.
3. Young 20-Something women read about clothes, gossip, and what's "in".
4. Young 20-Something men read about games, sports, and porn. NNITO.
5. By 30, the women are reading about weddings and kids.
6. By 30, the men are reading less about games and more about sports and porn.
7. 30 - 50 year old women are reading about gossip, houses, vacations, kids, and school stuff. Sales at the on-line stores. This has got to be the biggest target market out there.
8. The 30 - 50 year old man is reading about sports, vacations and trucks or sports cars. And porn.
9. The post - 50 year old women are all over the place.
10. The post -50 year old man stays on point.

There are enthusiasts in every sub-category one can imagine: politics, religion, art, entertainment, ecology. The list goes on. Any voice can be heard if they can reach the audience that wants to hear what it is that they are saying. I am impressed that Mommy blogger gets 100K hits a day, but having sampled her entries, there's nothing on her site that appeals to me. Her readership is engaged because they have kids and husbands and can identify with her daily life. And she has the ability to express her thoughts in a reader-friendly manner.

I don't think men want to be subjected to a daily dose of ants in the pantry and variations of The Vanishing Sock story. Sorry. It's in the DNA. (For comparable reasons, I'm leaving the peloton in Europe, and NASCAR in the pits!)

BCOT

Sunday

Just a few lines today. Looks like a Top Ten day here weather-wise.

I almost made it for the second half. By the final score, which I saw on the news this morning, I didn't miss much. Long day/night in Ames and Happy Valley for the other fans. And for Junior.

Let's talk garage sales. Is this a uniquely USA phenomena? My next-door neighbor had a big sale over the standard Thursday-Friday-Saturday schedule and the traffic was amazing. It was actually for their church, and they had a lot of stuff, but it was a steady stream of visitors yesterday, late into the afternoon. The neighbor said that they took in over $1000 on Friday alone!

One of the things that is happening is that there's a bit of an underground business of re-selling garage-sale purchases on the Internet. I suppose that this is a concept related to my entry here last week about the gal who bought Venetian glass on the Internet. One person's throw-away is another's treasure. Actually, I can see where a treasure-hunter might scout these sales to find a piece or two of glassware or other collectible to finish off a set.

This could also be a left-handed example of the US economy becoming a service economy. You have people buying and re-selling goods as opposed to making stuff. At the lower end of the curve, the goods in question are not likely collectible stuff, but simply serviceable items that are of use to a discerning (or not?) Internet buyer. Further up the continuum, I'm sure that you get into the higher value items that would make the descendants of the Biblical money-changers proud.

One of the speakers at our sales conference in KC last month told the story of a 20-Something whom she had met on a plane who had parlayed his Dad's collection and his own interest in baseball cards to a million-dollar enterprise on the Internet. Buying and selling. Knowing the market. Being able to ferret out truth.

The whole business in transactions involving used property, from glassware, to cars, to art work, is that there is always the element of the deal that plays on human nature. For both the buyer and the seller. A discount from new to the buyer. A premium on the flip to the seller. I learned in the auction that we held on the farm following Daddy's death that, at such an event, people will buy anything and everything. An auction is obviously slightly different than a garage sale, but as the saying goes, "Put a few things of little or no value (to you) in a box, and someone will buy it."

There are also some social angles to be examined (not here) that evolve in different segments of this dynamic. From the church ladies or neighborhood friends that organize and operate a sale, to the legions who make garage-sales must-see activities, and to the Internet players who get to know one-another only by their cryptic user names. I'm sure that there even must be an Internet dating service organized for the garage sale network.

And speaking of network, how many cable channels are there for shopping? Even mainstream channels have many infomercials on late nights and weekends. Have I got a deal for you! Bring it on, Monte Hall and Bob Barker. There's this bridge in Brooklyn...

So anyway, looks like a great day out there. Make it happen for you!

Be careful out there.

Friday

I see where the Hawkeyes game tomorrow is scheduled for a 7PM kick-off. To accommodate TV, I'm sure. I remember when they had a similar starting time for a game with Arizona State, maybe three years ago. It was Dad's Day for Theta and I had made the trip to be with 3, at least for the pre-game Theta party. We walked to the stadium area from downtown, and I was amazed at the alcohol on display.

There were stories in today's local papers about U of I scheduling more Friday classes to combat the problem of binge drinking on campus. If the university was serious about the alcohol problem, Saturday night football games wouldn't even be considered. It's bad enough when they delay the start times to 2:30 or 3:00. Let's face it. The tailgating is going to start at 9AM (or earlier) regardless of game time.

Back when I was in college (when I had to walk 8 miles to class, in the snow, wind or rain...just joking there), we did have Saturday classes. Actually, almost all of the freshman year classes were three credit hour courses that met either M-W-F or T-T-S. It's my recollection that the Saturday classes met at 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, or 11:30. On home game days, the 11:30 class met at 7:30. Game time was always 1:30.

We knew how to tailgate. And alcohol was a problem then too. Some things don't change.

Since I have the satellite as my TV system (rather than cable), I have the broadcast of the game on my tube. It's a Big Ten Network program, and the parties have failed to agree on a deal with Mediacom, the major cable provider in most Iowa cities. So some of my friends have already suggested that I host the evening. Which I am glad to do, but they'll have to turn out the lights themselves when they go home, because, obviously with a 7PM kick-off, the second half will be well past my bedtime! (Just joking again...:))

3 is on the road to Tahoe for the weekend. Business deal, but she should get to check in on Uncle Phil. Disregarding her training in the Twin Cities, this is her first official business trip. You go girl!

Well, this was a little more than you might have expected for Friday, but consider it my pleasure to provide a little entertainment for the masses heading into the weekend. Now, I'm off for the Tuscan red.

BCOT.

Thursday

I actually saw the Craig Wilson column and thought of Daddy. I think he was much more committed to the random visitation activity than was Mother. He had a bit of a Seinfeld approach to visitations: if he didn't know the deceased directly, he could easily rationalize that he could have known the party, or that he had perhaps once met the party, or a member of the family, and therefore was obligated to attend the service. Besides, one of his routines after a visitation was to stop in at a coffee shop for a late evening cup 'o joe, and some toast and jelly.

The whole business of what is real and what is imagined is becoming a mine field in today's Internet society. Not only do you have what has become somewhat old hat in phishing, but there is an increasingly complex world of identity theft. In a newer deception, a story in today's WSJ described a situation of a young female singer who had enjoyed explosive growth on her UTube site. Turns out that her deal was actually an underground marketing effort of a major (yet unnamed) recording label.

Newspapers and magazines are always subject to ambitious reporters or contributors who choose a path of deceit or misrepresentation. Sometimes even the most determined publications get caught. The Internet is just so expansive, that anyone can dress up in a wolf's suit and proclaim anything.

The spam filters on my Yahoo and business sites have been catching in droves contacts from "a classmate" or "a family member". I think the classmate stuff has resulted from my registration this Summer on a site for my high school reunion. I wondering if the family member stuff is coming from the use of an American Greetings card site. Hackers are tireless.

The scary thing is that techno-sleuths can follow your electronic trail of "cookies", in reverse, to infect your computer and pass your data to other gatherers of this type information. Your cell phone has a GPS chip. Many of the newer cars have the same thing. Heck, the White House doesn't need an act of Congress to follow anybody. They just need an underground marketing contract with Apple/AT&T.

The NFL opens tonight. Why Thursday?

BCOT

Wednesday

How 'bout the advice, "Buy American", in reflecting on lifestyles in the US of A? Historically, labor unions have picked up this chant to discourage consumers from buying foreign-made cars and heavy manufacturing items. What does it mean today?

Most of the big Asian and European car companies have US assembly plants. Deere, Caterpillar, and other big US industrial equipment manufacturers have huge growth in their foreign market sales. Do any major electronic components for our homes get manufactured in the US?

It is an interesting study of modern-day economics. The high exchange of the Euro to the $USD gives rise to European purchases of US products, and creates pain for the US vacationer across the pond.

In a global economy, "Buying American" should be one of the least of our worries. Where do you draw the line? We need to be internationally competitive with the products from Japan, Korea and China rather than protect US companies from overseas alternatives. In the end, price and quality will prevail, and US businesses need to figure out a strategy to win.

If I want to own a Beamer or a Lexus, I shouldn't have to put up with some jerk who wants to key the side of my car because of a foreign label.

BCOT

Tuesday

Busy day here at the office. Welcome to post-Summer reality.

A very interesting article appeared in the weekend edition of the WSJ written by a surviving daughter about her deceased Mother's "secret life", of sorts. The mother died in 2005 of cancer at age 60. The mother must have had a little money, and the daughter (and her sister) had enough money to frequently travel to Tucson to assist their sick mother. The girls became aware of the mother's addiction to eBay during her illness when Mom had them access her eBay account and monitor purchasing activities.

The mother, later in her life, became a collector of Venetian glass. (I remember a James Bond movie with some scenes shot in a Venetian glass factory, but my attention was on the Bond Girls, not the glass.) Anyway, the gist of the story was that the daughter got to know a lot about her mother, after her death, by sifting through the emails, purchase histories, and other documentation associated with Mom's glass collection.

Having taken care of my own Mother in the last years of her life, I am not surprised anymore by the testimonials of an adult child who learns unexpected things about a deceased parent when sorting through the departed's possessions. There are usually stories. Not all necessarily favorable.

The Venetian glass story does bring into play modern day technology. Computer files. Passwords. The generation of Boomers has jumped onto the Internet to do their banking, make their travel plans, and correspond with their progeny. Maybe those often recommended Powers of Attorney for Health, and the DNR orders, need addenda to spell out applicable computer passwords.

When the time comes to pick over my bones, don't read too much into the stray possessions which I failed to toss. I've got letters from old girlfriends. Stories (poorly written, I'm sure) from decades ago. A few knick knacks from different times in my life. Once I'm gone, they should go too.

My pal Bill is under orders to re-format the hard drive of my computer. After everyone has printed their collector editions of 4000 Days.

1 had her first day of school today. Good luck in Year 2!

BCOT

Monday

I know that it has been pretty quiet here for a few days. But the holiday weekend has kept me otherwise occupied.

The trip to C-town yesterday with 2 was a great success. We were able to connect with 4 with little trouble, and made our way to 3's place with similar ease. We has rock-star parking immediately in front of 3's building for the day.

Some observations of the day-trip:

1. Sunday morning vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the Water Tower area was just as congested as most any other day. Maybe not evening rush-hour traffic, but certainly not low-key, nothing-goin'-on, everyone's sleeping-in stuff.

2. Iowa football fans don't know when to go home.

3. No more than half the people who head to Wrigleyville for a weekend afternoon actually have intentions of going to the game.

4. I never thought I would see the day when there would be bathroom attendants at Wrigleyville bars. At least attendants who weren't either bouncers or cops.

5. Living and working in C-town may not be that much different than it was 30 years ago except that things are more expensive.

6. Open-road tolling is a huge improvement. Don't leave home without your I-Pass. (I wonder what the payback period is on the re-built, hi-tech toll plazas? 3 may need to push around some more future value calculations.)

7. It remains a personal comfort to be able to make a relatively stress-free trip to a major city, get to various places in the city, either by car or by public transportation, and be able to accomplish the day's goals without making it a big deal. Chicago was not the fav four years of my life, but getting to know the city then has made my frequent visits to C-town in the last 27 years much more enjoyable.

8. You can still have the C-town traffic.

9. Invest in Starbucks.

10. There's always lots to do in Chicago. Even for us old folks.

I was surprised to discover that the Wrigleyville bars ID'd people at the entrance to their establishments. This threw a bit of a wrench into my plan to sit at the outdoor tables at The Sports Corner for lunch after the game started, but we made do with the limitations. We even did a switch-the-ID's to get 4 into the Cubby Bear after we had eaten our community bag of peanuts outside the bar. My guess is that the cops have put their foot down on underage drinking and checking ages at the door discourages more violators. But if you were like us, looking for Chicago-style hotdogs, limiting entry was a little heavy-handed. Which is why I participated in the Cubby Bear ruse.

I'm not sure if the eat-the-peanuts-on-the-street incident will make the same history as the broiled-chicken-at-the-airport story, but it may make the Honorable Mention category. They were good peanuts. But we were hungry.

The area around the ballpark really hasn't changed much since the '70's except that everything is more expensive. Mom and I would sit in the bleachers for $2-4 per ticket, and bring in a 1 and 1/2 gallon cooler with iced lemonade/rum, and 3-4 beers to boot. None of this $5/beer stuff for us. List price on the bleacher tickets now ranges from $17-42 depending on the date. (I just checked e-Bay and a pack of four bleacher tickets for tomorrow sold for $88.77.) There were lots of scalpers around the park, and we heard some outrageous quotes for standing-room, even after the game had started. It's a different life.

Other items of note:

1. ND stinks. If Saturday is any indication, they may not finish above .500.

2. Summer's over.

3. One more week in the cast.

Oh, and an observation on AM's comment from Friday about teachers' titles. I have a fairly old-time acquaintance in town whom I see out and about a bit irregularly, both for social and business things. I used to do some tax stuff for his business, and he played with us on a men's C-league basketball team in the '80's. My pal Roy and I ran into him and a group of his buds at a Village of East Davenport saloon one nothing-special Wednesday night last Spring. Roy and I were there to give a friendly needle to a bartenderess who also worked at SB's. When we asked this other acquaintance of mine what the occasion was for his group, he said it was their regular Wednesday night "coaches' meeting". And as to our inquiry about their sport/team, it was, "There's no team. We're just coaches." Roy and I were impressed.

Hope eveyone has a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday

Not much of a blog today.

The last true Friday of the Summer. It would be nice if the cast was off.

BCOT

Thursday

I, of course, know nothing. Generally. But in particular, about the aged clarinet.

Yesterday I sent my first note to 1 after the wedding, and needed to consult with Mom to confirm use of the new last name on the envelope. Co-incidentally, 1 sent out an email today to remind everyone that her school address in our email books needed to be changed since she had made the name change in the school's system.

I think that the reality of a daughter assuming the name of her new husband could be a Craig Wilson topic. His direct experience may be suspect, but that never has been much of an impediment to a columnist with the germ of an idea for a story. I don't know if he and his partner have kids, or if one member of a gay couple assumes the name of the other. But that's a whole different kettle of fish that I'll leave for another day.

Anyway. Back to 1 now being Mrs. 1.1. I really hadn't thought much about the point until I began writing her name on the envelope. It was a little strange. I actually thought more intuitively about it then than I did while walking her down the aisle last month. Wisdom suggests that daughters will always be their Dad's little girls. Wisdom is probably right.

On a distant, but related point, I think we always remember women by the last name that we originally knew them. Think cousins, nieces, sister-in-laws, etc. Sue Ryan? (If relatives were not close geographically in the growing-up years, then a married name will stick since the maiden name may never truly have been in common use.) Grade school and high school classmates are the same way. Actually, I need to go to the old yearbooks to remember any name from back then, first or last.

If this concept is taken out a little further on the philosophical curve, you can discuss the reality of a promoted military officer, particularly those 2nd Louie's, still being considered at the lower rank by his/her troops if he/she has remained with the same outfit. I suppose that the same reality exists in any workplace. A line guy becomes the foreman. A teacher becomes the principal. An agent becomes the manager of many agents.

4 is back through town tonight on her way to C-town for the weekend. It's Hawkeye Day at Wrigley Field tomorrow. The Iowa AD tosses out the first pitch. I wonder if Herky will lip-sync "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" for the seventh inning stretch? 4 will be going to that game, and then to the Iowa football game at Soldier Field on Saturday where they will meet Northern Illinois in a clash of mediocrity.

2 and I will venture in to C-town Sunday morning to join with 3 and 4 for a deferred Father's Day celebration on Sunday. The plan was originally to go to the Cub's game, but I think we have all concluded that we can save the $$$'s from the tickets and just hang out at the Wrigleyville establishments and watch the game on TV.

As an equal opportunity blog, good luck to the Clones on their big game(?) with Kent tonight. I don't think that it's Clark Kent. But I've been wrong before. (I actually played a game or two at Kent State in another lifetime. Before the National Guard arrived.)

BCOT

Wednesday

No blog today. It's National Wednesday.

BCOT

Tuesday

The new cast is only marginally better than the previous one. I can at least put my thumb and index finger together. Two more weeks of "healing".

Another hot one here. 90+ with August humidity. But a front is supposed to come through this evening to get us back into cooler sleeping weather.

Today's topic is inspired by a column in this morning's USA Today Life section that went to some lengths to characterize runners as "running bores". Personally, due to the crowd that I associate with, I hear more from "golfing bores", "biking bores", and "traveling bores". Even more to the point, albeit with no athletic reference, I've bored clients about tax codes and regulations my entire professional life.

In our "grown-up" lives, we tend to participate in physical activities that are more fitness oriented than competitive. (Granted, those golf scores do incent even the worst of the hacks.) The focus is not so much about winning or losing as it is on accomplishment. But being human, there tends to be a need to receive due recognition for our accomplishments. I know that I proudly displayed my half-marathon medals in my office for months after the events. A little pride is okay, but the author of today's article accurately points out that most of these personal testimonials are of marginal interest to the listener.

For what it's worth, I am delighted to hear of these exploits by the girls, whatever the activity. I think we all make exceptions for family that we might not for even the best of friends. And as for mere acquaintances? Where's the exit?!

I do think that we all talk too much about ourselves. Our own likes and dislikes, our own schedules and travails, The World According to Me.

One of the best compliments that a person can receive is that they are a good listener. This is to be distinguished from the quiet listener, who is simply waiting for you to stop talking so that he/she can set the record straight with their own version of whatever the topic. That standard was set for me by a college roommate with whom I had many late-night debates on various subjects. As I spoke my piece, I could almost see through his eyes into a mind that was digesting my commentary, and occasionally, very occasionally, he would agree with me. I always felt like he listened, regardless of how far apart we were philosophically.

This whole business of "bores" is not new, of course. How many panels have we seen Dagwood in over the years, dying to get away from a night at the neighbors' whose entertainment for the evening was home movies of their family vacation? Or Hagar's fleeing the hut to avoid Helga's mother? I venture to guess that we all have our own examples of the classic, awful conversation. The old, "Gosh, silly me. Here I am droning on. I'm tired of talking about me. Why don't you talk about me for a while?"

I may have suggested this before, but it's worth a re-run. If you catch yourself being a "fill-in-the-blank bore", remember what it's like to hear (or read) me talk about NASCAR!!

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Quite the set of comments from yesterday. Must be lots of boredom out there.

I go back in to see the doc in the AM on my thumb. I am sooo tired of this cast! I think that the scheduled protocol is to re-cast it for another three weeks. I may go off the deep end by then.

This experience has the same psychological stresses associated with a natural right-hander trying to learn to shoot lay-ups left-handed. At least with that challenge, you don't have to master miniature motor skills. This business of opposable thumbs is probably as critical as higher intellect in the progression of homo sapiens.

2 should probably lead us in a discussion on footwear. I think that I fall into that "Old Folks" category where shoes are something to shelter your feet from the elements. You have your weekday shoes, your Sunday church shoes, your gym shoes, and some knock-arounds. Maybe some Winter boots. Maybe both brown and black weekday shoes. Maybe sandals for the Summer. And in my case, biking shoes.

Fashion may not be my strong suit. But that's not much of a secret, is it?

BCOT

Sunday

Last night was a return of great sleeping weather. High 50's, low 60's, little humidity. Kind of like Tahoe, although those low temps get a little lower up there.

I know that everyone enjoyed 3's extended comment Friday about the costs/benefits/future value of SB's coffee. I find it interesting that SB's is one of the few cross/generational intersection points on our life curves. When you are talking about people with as much as 30 or more years of age differences, specific points in common are fairly scarce. Of course, the more "big picture" the point, the easier to find common ground.

People may enjoy reading, but they probably enjoy different writers. They may enjoy travel, but probably to different places. Leisure/fitness activities. Food/drink/cooking. Clothing. Etc. Etc. Etc.

But if you take a multi generational group, analyzing those intersection points is a worthy mental exercise. SB's is one of those anywhere/anytime commonalities that makes me feel a connection with the fam. On any given day, I know that it is likely that one or more of my girls, probably my sister, and certainly a couple of other close personal friends will be going through a similar line at a similar store somewhere in the country (or world, at times), for their daily dose of coffee and culture. And when they leave that store, their curve takes them off on their own path for the day.

Tahoe is a little like that for us too. Different in that we all physically get to the same location for decidedly leisure activities. But there is enough there that we can occupy ourselves a bit differently. And when we are not there, a casual conversation (among ourselves or with others) about a previous or future visit brings instant appreciation for a shared experience.

The concept here is that it's not about memories. Everyone has warm places in our hearts about the good times, with families and/or friends, like at a wedding or a reunion. There is an "interactive" element to this idea. That the connectivity item is current and/or future oriented. There is the anticipation that more good things will come because the story is not fully written. More chapters are to come.

Dare I say, 4000 Days?

Enough of the thoughtful stuff. I'm off in Margret for my monthly trip to my favorite store (not!) to stock up on consumables. 2 is over later for a cookout. Domestic chores and a workout later. It's gonna be a great day!

BCOT

Friday

I am humbled by 3's comments. She and 4 are both capable of producing such enjoyable content with seemingly little effort. It's a gift.

I think I'll let the readers be the blog for today. It's Friday anyway.

BCOT

Thursday

Another day of rain. Sounds like lots of folks in the Midwest have been hit with 100 year water.

We bit the bullet here at the office and are in the midst of a two-day project to replace the carpet in the common areas of the second floor. After nearly eighteen years of innumerable coffee spills, mud-traffic-ing, and commercial wear and tear, the original carpeting was an embarrassment. The installers are pretty efficient, but it is a bit chaotic and a little hard to ignore. The new design will be a real breath of fresh air.

As a practical matter, spending this money will have a zero positive impact on our revenue. It will be a cash outflow with no related income effect. I guess it can be best described as a quality of business life issue. I know that I spend money on mass-marketing things that have little direct effect on the development of my securities business. And I rationalize that I need to do those things to achieve broad acceptance in the local business environment. But you need to be careful on how much of that that you do, when direct marketing to specific prospective customers may yield better results.

There was an Internet piece today on the little things that individuals can do to save hundreds of dollars annually. Think SB's coffee. Think premium cable/dish channels. Think bottled water. How about the daily paper? This list could be a long one. There was another story to the other extreme, that I did not read, about a girl who didn't buy anything for a month.

How you choose in these smaller decision points can certainly impact the financial health of your business and/or personal life. Maybe not so much if you have significant assets or a substantial income. But if you have to watch your checking account to stay on the positive side of things, a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred dollars, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

On the business side, I think that it is valid that you have to spend money to make money. But I think that I too often forget that my best clients came to me not by way of an ad in the business section, but rather by an introduction from a friend or client.

We should have 3 do a future value calculation of saving rather than spending for a daily SB's libation. My only consolation is that being so old, my long term loss will be nothing compared to the projected foregone retirement accumulation of the younger set.

I'm rambling. Suffice it to say, I again lost out on Powerball.

BCOT

Wednesday

The sub-prime mortgage market still dominates most business news stories. At least a couple dozen small-ish mortgage companies have filed for bankruptcy, and units at some of the bigger finance companies have been shut down. More blood will be let in the weeks and months ahead.

There was a time within the last 3-4 years when we considered establishing a relationship with a mortgage company to offer mortgages to our accounting firm customers. The creative stuff being done with mortgages back then had just tons of refinancing being done, and there was money to be made by the originator on each refi file. Brokers were so busy that they added staff and worked evening hours. It was a classic example of "making hay while the sun shines".

My guess is that most of the people whom we would have encountered in our practice for that service would not have been "sub-prime" borrowers. But who knows what may turn up in the wake of this mess? What we haven't seen yet are the sharks in the water (read: attorneys) looking for their cut in the legal boom that is sure to come.

A little bit of Garth Brooks applies to our situation here: "Thank God for Unanswered Prayers". In this case, my lack of commitment (or motivation) became my savior from what could have been just more headaches.

In another matter related to strategic planning, I spoke for about a half hour today with the 24 year old daughter of a client who is now thinking about heading back to grad school to become a CPA. She has a Business undergraduate degree, so with a CPA now being required to have 150 hours to obtain the certificate, she can do a Masters' program in a year and a half. My friend/client had asked me to speak with her when I had made an eyebrow raising face to him when he had told me of her plans.

My advice to her was to make sure that there was enjoyment and a plan in pursuing the program. Debits and credits never inspired me. The tax work was intuitively challenging for many years, and I enjoyed the game-theory of substantiating favorable tax treatment for clients. In recent years, I have found investment services/planning a much more interesting and rewarding area of study. Accounting was certainly the base that allowed me to have options later in life. If you are going to run your own business, or work in a key role within a business, a good understanding of accounting is a necessity.

In the end, I wished her good luck, and then apologized to her for rambling and preaching. It's kind of like reading this blog.

There are all kinds of other items to confirm that I have established my place among the aged, but I think that the number of different doctors whom I have visited in the last six weeks takes any doubt out of the question. GP. Urologist. Orthopedist. Dermatologist. Plus the various lab techs, physician's assistants, nurses, etc. Plus the Gastro guy whom I will be seeing soon for his 5-year look-see. I used to describe myself as "generally healthy".

So have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

In case you missed it, 1 added a lengthy comment to the Sunday entry.

I had a successful mowing of my yard last night. The overnight rain made my decision to get the cutting done yesterday even more productive. If I had given it another day to grow, I would have had to catch the clippings, which is a lot more work.

Catching the clippings is a concept that relates to the idea that will be the core issue of today's entry. Going green. It's politically correct. It's urged at almost every municipal level. We have curb-side recycling. Yard-waste composting. Ethanol. Biofuels. Laurie David. Al Gore.

On a personal level, we're talking the carbon footprint of my failed tomato garden. I estimate that I harvested a total of 10 tomatoes before I threw in the towel to the rabbits. (Actually, I could take this analysis off on an economic bent, but that would be too easy.) Let's evaluate the carbon energy expended for the "natural" tomato experience:

1. Truck transport to Lowe's to stock the garden store. Plants. Dirt. Etc.
2. My initial car trip to and from Lowe's to buy the plants.
3. My trip to Lowe's last Fall to buy 3 bags of new dirt for the garden.
4. Plastic bags made to package the dirt.
5. Plastic tags to identify the variety of tomato plant.
6. Packaging for StaGro fertilizer.
7. Paper yard waste bags to send failed plants to community compost.
8. Compost truck gas/oil for curb-side pick-up.
9. Three months of every-other-day watering by garden hose.
10. Water from my shower after planting the tomatoes.
11. I could go on. And on.

For 10 tomatoes.

Okay. The marginal carbon footprint for each of the above items may not be significant enough to measure on any scale. So where is the veritable "tipping point"? When does an individual doing something or not doing something actually matter to the whole? How do you get there? How do you legislate globally when the level of interests are so varied? If the citizenry of California all elected to ride bicycles, would that offset the pollution or other detriments of the South Americans clear-cutting and burning the rain forests? (Fortunately, there's talk of a new rain forest outside Iowa City. But that discussion will have to wait for another day.)

True garden-fresh tomatoes are of high value. Any politicaly correct carbon footprint has to allow for variances. Those red ovular cardboard things that they sell in stores will make even an environmentalist grimace. I see a Tomato Exception sailing through both Houses.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

I'm going to think about tomorrow's blog as I mow my yard this evening.

BCOT

Sunday

Dreary Sunday in the QC. Cool. Rainy. Indoor sports for sure.

The primary reason that I am here today is that Powerball failed me again.

I rarely read The New York Times. And if it can be said grammatically, rarelier on Sundays. But with the prospect of an inside day, and no immediate big plans, I elected to buy today's edition of the NYT at SB this AM. One of my non-political biases against the NYT is that is generally so intensely thorough that it's hard to read without a strong, pre-reading mental preparedness. I prefer my news to be delivered with a little less commitment.

Every media outlet is searching for a readership. Consistent with many aspects of our culture today, most delivery systems concentrate on the headlines. Short and sweet. See USA Today, the McPaper of the 21st Century (so far). The local papers that I read follow a similar abbreviated orientation. Most Internet news pages tend to be even more high spots-oriented.

I know little about the economics of journalism, but I suspect that for the various papers owed by our local publisher, Lee Enterprises, including news in the daily paper is merely filler material between the many pages devoted to advertising. If they can locate a "Man Bites Dog" story or find some dirt on a public official, their front-page story is set.

But I digress. Back to the NYT. Today's edition was filled with detailed analysis in stories about Iraq, sub-prime credit problems, the theater, sports and a host of other topics. I think I received value for my $5 investment. I don't necessarily feel more educated. I read a lot during the week, and much of today's reading was review. Can I take a quiz and get a discount next week? At $5, I am reminded of the anecdote about the beer guzzler who, in a period of stock market decline, was actually better off drinking the brew and returning the cans for refund than he would have been if he had invested in Anheuser Busch stock.

How about this question: Is the NYT relevant to that large part of America that doesn't call New York home? I want to say that it is, but it's debatable. Is it important that we have structures in our world that are cultural-related as opposed to economic-driven? I'm pretty sure that the answer to that question is, "yes", but how do you reconcile the needs to support the liberal arts with an increasingly "stuff" driven society?

This is an interesting area of thought. Economics always count. The arts need good administrators who audited a few B-School classes on their way to the gallery/theater. The NYT simply puts the term "liberal" a little high on their adjective list for me.

Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

I had good intentions to make a small entry yesterday, but the day got away from me and it just didn't happen. Not that Friday's tend to be that creative.

I've made a little progress on Blog II. Or Blog Revisited. Or Blog Unplugged. Choose your title.

One of the questions that any writer must face is, "Who are you writing for?" More specifically, "Are you writing for an audience, or are you writing for yourself?" It is not necessarily a question that has a simple answer. If a person has determined that writing is programmed into their DNA, then they must write to feed that need. If someone else has figured out that they can write, and that they can parlay that talent into commercial success, you could argue that that writer is reader-driven.

My original motivations for 4000 Days were, 1) to take advantage of the Internet blog to maintain connectivity with my daughters, and 2) to share with them my thoughts and opinions as we all progressed along our separate-but-connected journeys in life. I have thoroughly enjoyed that process over the last 20 months, but I have had a definite erosion in my own satisfaction of a "job well-done". And I have sensed a diminishment in interest among my six readers. (I realize that news on this page of the peloton and NASCAR are both highly anticipated, but other sites may have more details on these items.)

There's that high school commencement speech adage to recognize here; "Find something that you love, and you won't have to work a day in your life." I would argue, in a Clintonesque manner, that the veracity of that adage depends on your definition of the term work. Good writing requires effort. Writing about the days news, or relating anecdotes from the family's past, requires little creativity, and yields only modest satisfaction upon completion. I want more than that.

My current thoughts are to somehow merge in a personal way some of the concepts of information organization from a home page like Yahoo!, with the human interest appeal of various staples from the entertainment industry. I don't want to be a reconfigured Jerry Sienfeld, Matt Dillon (the sheriff!), or Charles Kuralt. But I like the fact that the things these people did, although generally very simple and basic, were good enough to have continued viewer interest years after initial presentation.

I have a good friend who would smack me around at this point and say, "Enough already!! What are you going to do?"

I'm working on it. I have notes. I'm in the structural design phase right now.

One thought is to have a daily segment entitled something like, "A Vicarious Life". I may choose a fictional character to wade through a contemporary scenario of politics, religion, science or travel. There needs to be connectivity to time and family.

Whatever. More on this tomorrow. I'll accept ideas.

In other news. 1 did 17+ today and felt good about it. I'm envious.

The Little League World Series is on. In yesterday's first game, some kid made a final-out, Top Ten leaping catch robbing a batter of a game-winning dinger. And he gets interviewed by Erin Andrews. He had a pretty good day.

The 24 is on the pole for tomorrow's race. His crew chief is back after that bogus 6 week suspension.

Have a great weekend.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Still no vision on the new blog.

1's wedding pics are available. Lots of pics. Lots of good ones.

The stock markets remain in turmoil. It's a very interesting time.

My pal Roy just got back from his Scotland golf trip, and he's now gone to LV for the weekend. He lives a different life.

Surely somebody's life out there is more interesting than mine.

BCOT

Tuesday

No blog today.

Monday

A disclaimer to start with: this is not the new blog. Just some random catching-up on some stuff from over the last week. The idea machine for the new blog is still processing data.

I think we have had a one day break from the heat. The paper today said that it was supposed to be 100 tomorrow! My poor old AC unit at my house is working hard to keep things in the mid-'70's inside.

How hot was it in my car during the day in KC? It was so hot that toner melted off a recently copied sheet of paper onto the leather seats, and I can't get the stain out!

Discovery Cycling has pulled the plug as of the end of the year. The organization is actually Tailwind Sports, and Discovery is the current sponsor (replacing US Postal Service 3 years ago). Tailwind ran into a headwind in it's effort to replace title sponsors for next year, and with the current doping and the sport's overall governance issues, the shutdown became a business decision.

And the 24 spun out (with no help from others) while in the lead with just two laps to go yesterday at Watkins Glen. Unbelievable. That was the equivalent of Tiger four-putting on 18 to lose a tournament.

My garden is officially shut down. I'm ripping out the plants this weekend. While I was gone, the rabbit's took bites of every tomato on the vine. I hope they were sour tomatoes.

The cast remains a nuisance. Not really sore. A little achy at times. And very inconvenient.

Pro football is in full pre-season swing. Without checking the Internet, name four players on the Carolina Panthers. Who knew Carolina had a team? Who cares?

My biggest problem with the cast is that I keep hitting, unintendedly, random keys on the keyboard. I just move the middle of the last paragraph to the middle of the previous paragraph.

So I'm going home for some Tuscan red.

Where's your addition to literacy, 4?

BCOT

Sunday

The trip home from KC was uneventful. Din-din with 2 and 4 when I got back.

Another hot day here. 90+. I hate these hot days.

4 is headed back to IC today. Hard to believe that it's her third year already. I remember the stress of her sorority rush week.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Friday - KC

Hey to all.

Typical conference stuff for me. The cast makes the crosswords more challenging.

I'm still mulling ideas for the "new" 4000 Days. In the very short run, I'll continue working the old turf.

Miss you guys.

BCOT

Wednesday

This will be brief. And there may not be much added here over the next few days while I'm in KC. We'll see what the Internet facilities are at the conference.

2 came over for a glass of vino last night and we ended up talking for the better part of a couple of hours. Very enjoyable.

I have a goal to get the blog going in a slightly different direction. The car ride to and from KC may give me the time to consider the options. It needs to get more umph for both the writer and the reader.

4 can pick up the baton these next few days in my absence. She's been quiet way too long.

BCOT

Tuesday

The good news is that the cast was changed. The bad news is that the new cast is at least as big, and more unwieldy, than the original one. Hunt-n-peck is now my middle name.

USA Today carried a Page 6D review today of a historical novel about architect Frank Lloyd Wright that was written by a gal named Nancy Horan. The reviewer was pretty kind.

Congrats are in order for a new arrival in KC. Mother, child, grandparents, et. al. are doing fine.

3 is working on the 24th floor of an office building on Wacker Drive in C-town. Another lifetime ago, I worked for nearly four years on the 24th floor of different building elsewhere in The Loop. Worlds collide.

Sorry not so eloquent today. Have a great evening.

BCOT

Monday

Glad to hear from 1 on the road.

4 headed over to IC today to get a few hours in on the job this week. After a Summer of out-flow, she needs spending money.

Somewhat to 4's displeasure, I made her stop by the office on her way out of town so that I could go with her to the auto parts store to get the brake light replaced on her car. I had tried to get 3 to make the repair before the trip to Europe, to obviously no avail. And had suggested to 4 after the wedding that her friends ought to be able to get the switch made. Let's see. How many college kids does it take to swap out a brake light?

It was a 10 minute repair for us that had an out-of-pocket cash expense of $5.35. And five of the ten minutes was a do-over on one of the plastic butterfly nuts that wouldn't quite catch the screws. Even 4 recognized that we weren't doing brain surgery. And to top it off, one of the sales guys came by and asked if we wanted him to finish it up.

So the question becomes, did I fail again as a parent? A fairly simple request was made of my kids for what was a definite safety issue on the car. (Don't the cops still give out citations for defective lights on a car?) But it was low drama, with no "come hell or high water" theater. So I was essentially ignored. In the end, I fixed the problem, and no disadvantage accrued to the child. Not that I had a huge disadvantage, other than the $5.35 and a slightly sweaty shirt after spending those 10 minutes in the heat and humidity.

Actually, you could spin this another way and recognize that young adult children tend to consult with their aging parents on perhaps equinox regularity, so an event like this might be a child's subconscious concession to family bonding. Dare I say, left-handed FFF?

Lots in the news today about Tom Glavine winning his 300th game last night in C-town. He's a class act. Maybe a guy I'd walk across the street to greet, but probably just one I would wave at from afar. He was on an Atlanta pitching staff in the 90's that could one day have three guys in the Hall of Fame: Glavine, Maddux, and Smoltz. Glavine and Maddux are locks. Smoltz probably needs a couple more good years.

3 had her first real day on the job in C-town today. You go girl!

Enough for today. I am anxious for the smaller cast.

BCOT

Sunday

Very low key weekend. The cast is really bothersome.

1 and 1.1 were at the game in San Diego last night when Bonds hit his dinger. She had text-ed me earlier to let me know that Erin Andrews was at the game as well. Which told me that the game was on one of the ESPN channels, and it was. I actually saw the HR too.

2 helped me yesterday with my grocery shopping. Young people do that for the aged and the disabled.

Here's another example of network TV's lack of flexibility; the PGA tournament in Akron had the 4th round tee off early today in anticipation of bad weather later this afternoon. Rather than give the live feed to one of their cable networks, they will be showing it on tape delay during the regular scheduled time. They needed to get those infomercials on the air this morning. What BS.

I am getting tired of having to explain the cast to everyone. For my meetings in KC this week, I'm going to come up with a much more exciting story.

This is probably going to be a future Craig Wilson column. Late yesterday afternoon as I was lounging very hard on my couch watching golf on the tube, I noticed an older woman walking a little erratically passed my house. I stood to get a better view, and, as was my primary theory, I saw that she was walking a small dog. Near the end of my yard, the dog wandered to the parking, where it appeared to do it's Number 1 business. Then it came back across the sidewalk, and right under my front tree, it did a healthy dose of Number 2. The woman had been standing, watching somewhat bored. With the business done, they turned and went from which they had come.

The entire matter of pet littering is a long-standing irritant for me. I think that allowing a pet to dump on another's property, and leaving it there, is one of the most inconsiderate things that otherwise civil people commonly do. In this case, I thought about yelling at the woman, maybe even racing out with a plastic bag, cleaning the mess and handing it to her with an appropriate comment. In the end, I rationalized that doing anything to express my disgust would probably just scare the woman, who most likely lived by herself with the dog.

So I'm venting here.

On a broader scheme of things, I think that pet owners, generally, intuit that everyone shares their same love of the animal kingdom. A little dung on your yard is just some fertilizer that helps keep the planet green. A few hairs on your shirt? Some pooch jumping your leg, slobbering at your crotch? Minor inconveniences for the enjoyment of a faithful friend. Right.

My official position is that animals are great. Outside. On the farm. And that they stay there, particularly as I head by on my bike.

I saw my first editorial cartoon this AM about the Federal government being at fault for the Minnesota bridge collapse. It's just too easy of a target.

So I'm headed to the couch. Dog walkers beware.

BCOT

Friday

Nice to hear from 3 as she was burning the midnight oil.

This cast is getting a little old. But I did drive my car for the first time today. But it remains impossible for me to write anything, including my signature. Showering is work.

My pal Roy heads to Scotland tomorrow for 10 days of golf. Life's a beach.

This first week of August was the time of Summer when we would do whatever vacation that we would do when the girls were young. All the Summer's organized activities were over, business was usually slow, and there was a bit of a lull before school stuff started. I always said that in August it was hard to find many clients at their offices. They were taking their vacations too! I think that the facts remain much the same today.

I missed Anderson Cooper last night. I'm pretty sure that he was able to conclude that the TC bridge collapse was a problem traceable to Washington DC. Maybe it is. Interstate bridges are mostly paid for with Federal money. Whom ever voted against bridge appropriation bills in the last twenty years will be placed in the media's spotlight.

There is a reason why people in areas of responsibility (public officials, professionals or business owners, for example) often joke about wanting to be a greeter at Walmart.

The new Bourne movie is out today. It's received positive reviews. I'll be glad when it hits video.

Have a great Friday evening.

BCOT

Thursday

Short again today. I am reduced to hunt-n-peck with my right hand.

The outing yesterday with my pal Roy was a fun deal. I was the designated ball-mark repair caddie and the flag holder as others putted. Tough duty. Bloody Mary's helped.

Tragedy in Minneapolis. We all were on that bridge two weeks ago. How many other bridges are in the same condition? How many law suits are out there?

Here's a dose of PGA golf reality in today's world. In most TV leaderboard presentations, the standings are presented with low score first, with any ties shown alphabetically at each stroke count. EXCEPT, when he's not the outright leader (and shown first anyway), Tiger Woods is always the first golfer listed at his score level even if there are 10 guys with the same score and all of the others' last names occur in the alphabet before "w". It's known as the "Tiger position" on the scoring chart. Interestingly, on the Internet and in the print media, the alphabetic rule is followed.

Aunt Martha is in Breckenridge, Colorado for a few days. Interesting how the ski places have developed Summer programs as well. The mountains in the Summer are beautiful. Maybe a bike trip in Colorado would be worth a look. It couldn't beat Tahoe, but it is drivable.

So enough. It takes too much concentration to key the letters.

BCOT

Wednesday

No blog today. I have function today with my pal Roy.

Thumb is ok.

BCOT

Tuesday

2 pretty well got it right.

I have a good-sized cast on my right arm from my thumb to about mid-way up my forearm. Not a lot of pain, but a dull ache. I'm taking ibuprofen, forsaking the vicodin. My dexterity on the computer is not so good. Entries for the next couple of days will be short.

The procedure was completed according to plan. No complications. I go back to see the doc next week, and I expect to be fitted for a 4-5 week cast at that time. Ugh.

One of my thoughts while on my bike the last few days was the uniqueness of the adjectival phrase, "largely ceremonial", which is the two-word-term used to describe the last stage of the TdF. Basically, the race for the General Classification championship is completed at the end of Stage 19, and the peloton comes to Paris with only prizes for the sprinters at stake. This year, for instance, in the GC, the leader had only 23 seconds on the second place guy, who had only 8 seconds on the third place guy. But in Stage 20 on Sunday, these three guys (and their teams) really didn't race. Tradition said that they shouldn't. So they didn't.

But how many events, places (or other nouns for that matter) have their own unique adjective? Some things have a sub-title, like The Fall Classic, or The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. But I'm talking adjective here.

Think about it.

BCOT

Monday AM

Very little to add.

Word is the 1 and 1.1 made it successfully to LV.

More later.

Saturday PM

2 did a nice job at Bix. She averaged a little over 10 minute miles. Not bad for not having trained. I saw her going and coming from my viewing spot which is no small feat with 15,000 people streaming by. Actually, she saw me which is the way it usually happens in that kind of situation. I just placed myself in a bit of an elevated spot and stayed clear of other spectators.

The running conditions weren't bad. Warm, but not hot. Humid, but not oppressive.

4, Mom and I met at The Maidrite for breakfast after the race. We sat at the counter like the old days after church.

I did 27 right after lunch. 1 called and said that she had run 15 this AM and 1.1 had done 13. That was a bit of an incentive for me to hit the road.

RAGBRAI ended in Bellevue today. LA had bailed earlier and was in France for today's stage of the Tour (which Levi won and Alberto kept yellow). The Saturday of RAGBRAI is always a bit of a letdown: it's a shorter ride, the riders are all anxious to get home, and the host community is just saying, "Hello" and "See ya" in the same breath.

1 and 1.1 head to LV tomorrow AM. Their watching the Northwest Air cancellations to see if there's any pattern.

The SB's location in downtown Davenport may be the nicest of the SB's stores in town. I stopped in for the first time yesterday at lunch time when I went downtown to check out the food vendors for the Bix street fest. The manager is a nice gal. It sounds like they don't have much trade after 5PM, and that they do get some unwanted attention from some homeless people. I suspect that a downtown Chicago loop location for SB's can survive with just the business day traffic. I'm not so sure about that scenario in Davenport.

Biagii's last night for Sonoma red. Liberty School 2005 cabernet. Try it. The staff in the bar area has experienced quite the turnover this Spring/Summer. And not for a net improvement. At least three of the better cocktail gals have moved on, and my favorite bartender is selling cars. 2 knows the drill with the turnover in the local food and beverage industry.

One of the farms that I ride past on a regular basis has a small flock(?) of wild turkeys that wander around the barnyard near the road. Gobbling a constant gobble. The first time I went past, I couldn't figure out what the noise was! Denise may want to check M. gallopavo off her list (by my proxy).

All for today. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Saturday AM

Sorry to have missed yesterday. Not that I would have added much, since it was a Friday, and I typically leave a little early on Friday's anyway.

4's wisdom teeth event went pretty much as anticipated. She's resting.

2's doing Bix this AM and I'm going to try to see her.

So I'll check in later.

BCOT

Thursday

Now they've tossed the Dane Rasmussen who was leading the Tour. It isn't pretty. Whoever wins this year will have to have an asterisk after his name.

I think I'll keep a running tally on the cost of my biking accident. So far, we have $330 for bike repairs and $20 co-pay on my first doctor's visit. I pre-registered for the surgery today and the first thing that they give you is a statement on the financial aspects of the procedure. Basically, it's, "You're going to get lots of bills from lots of people. Good luck paying them." If I get done for less than $2500 it will be a miracle. There goes January in Cabo.

My laziness in not propping-up my tomato plants is coming to fruition (or lack thereof). At least half of the crop has been lost to ground rot or rabbits. The ones that I have kept are just fair. Luckily, my neighbor has had a bumper crop. But my pride has taken a hit. I've got to do some serious Fall tillage to have the plot ready for next year.

Bix is this weekend in Davenport. 2 says she will be run/walking the race on Saturday morning. 4 will be on the DL as she's having her wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow AM. While we have heat and humidity today, the forecast for Saturday is for cooler temps.

I'm not sure if the race or the blues music fest now drives the weekend. I know that each year they get bands from all over the country to come play on the levee stage along the Mississippi. And blues affectionatos from throughout the Midwest come in as well. The street fest must make money for somebody. Personally, I don't get it. It reminds me of a county fair. Hot and dirty. And no cows.

My pal Roy turned up here yesterday with a new golf club for me. I've been using the same 2 metal-wood driver off the tee for at least 10 years. When he and I last played, I had asked him if he had a newer-technology club in his inventory that might fit my needs. (The guy must have at least 1000 clubs, seriously.) I never heard from him again about it. My guess is that he woke up one night recently, remembered the conversation, and jumped on-line. So I now have a new driver. That I can't swing because of my thumb.

A friend of mine who knows that I like baseball recently asked me whom I would call my favorite player. Now. Before. Whenever. And I was stumped. I grew up listening to the Cardinals, and I guess their '64 and '67 teams would be on my short list of all-time favorite teams. I liked Ken Boyer, their third baseman more than maybe the other players, but I don't recall a big thing for him.

I liked Charlie Finley's Oakland A's teams of Catfish Hunter, Joe Rudi and Vida Blue. And I liked Dave Kingman when he played for the Cubs in the late '70's when he was their only decent player. Cal, Maddux, George Brett, the Bench/Morgan Cincinnati teams. In summary, Old School teams/players. But probably not just one. I never thought about it before.

Let's see. We have violence and dog-fighting in the NFL. Crooked refs in the NBA. Roids in baseball. Doping in cycling. Makes you proud that NASCAR's biggest problem is a little fudging on the down-force parameters!

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

The diagnosis on the thumb is torn ulnar ligament. Surgery Monday. Cast for 5-6 weeks. I knew that it was a problem when I couldn't turn the ignition to start the car.

More bad news at the TdF. Another rider tested positive, and another team pulled out. The leader remains a Dane who is being dogged by suspicion because of his below-radar activities before the Tour. The Disco boys tried to shake him today on the final mountain stage, and he beat them down and solidified his lead.

Lance is in Iowa for RAGBRAI this week, but he has floated the rumor that he may leave in the next couple of days and go to France for the end of the Tour. He certainly has generated a lot of pub for RAGBRAI. Lots of personal cancer stories in the DM Register each day. And the politicians are out in full force trying to grab their piece of the news. Pretty Boy Edwards rode some with LA yesterday.

Craig Wilson drug out a variation of the bottled water nonsense today. I could say that that was my material, but the topic has been lampooned by so many wags that it would be hard to claim that ownership.

In another case of, "It's a Small World", I learned this AM that one of the assistant managers at the Duck Creek SB's is the daughter of one of my Riley first cousins. She and I have been good "first name" friends for several months, and somehow she overheard my last name in a conversation with my pal Roy today.

Grandpa used to find those linkages with amazing regularity. He could go into a strange cafe in a little town anywhere in the US, start a conversation with a waitress, and find out that he knew her distant uncle. Maybe he passed that gene on to me.

So I'm off to the bike. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

My guess is that 4 has been unable to find the motivation to entertain us now that Europe and the wedding have become history. We need her spin on things.

It's been an awful day for the TdF and it was a rest day at that. The pre-race favorite, Alexander Vinokourov from Kazachstan and the Astana team, who has won a couple of stages but who has dropped far behind in the overall classification, tested positive for doping. He and his team have been sent home. It makes you sick.

I think that the new son-in-law will be called 1.1 in keeping with a technology theme. That logic enables us to easily name possibly future additions to that family as in 1.2, 1.3, etc. Then again, based on some one's comment last weekend on 1's thoughts about kids, we won't have to worry about the etc.

Most of my conversations these last couple of days, in person or on the phone, have had at least short discussions about the wedding weekend. In response to my comments about how well everything went all weekend long, one attorney said something about the stars being lined up correctly. She was right. The moon and the stars were exactly where they needed to be for all of us.

I have an appointment in the morning to see an orthopod about my thumb injury. My guess is that there will need to be some surgery to pin a ligament to get everything in the right place.

There was a death in minor league baseball recently. A 35 year old coach of the Tulsa Drillers, a AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, was struck by a foul ball while coaching first base in a game Sunday night in Arkansas. I had never heard of the guy, but in reading a few of the accounts of the incident, he was apparently a good guy with young children, and still loved the game. I haven't seen any film of the incident, but the result makes you ask, "Where was he looking?"

A first base coach is helping runners with pick-off moves, and he can be pretty close to a hitter, especially a left-handed one. You hear of pitchers getting hit with batted balls, and there have been deaths in the past. Now we know why "Heads-up" is a good practice.

There's a story of personal experience here. I remember a high school game of mine in Pella, Iowa when the coach put me at first base as our regular first baseman was not with the team that day, and he figured that an experienced player like me could handle a few innings at first. Well, at some point in the game, the other team got a runner on first, and I set up on the home side of first to hold the guy on. Like you're supposed to, I extended my gloved left hand toward the pitcher to give him a target in case he elected to try a pick-off move.

My recollection of the rest of the story is from others. I must have glanced toward home to watch the hitter. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground and asking, "What happened?" The pitcher had indeed thrown to first. A bullet, I was told. Right over my glove, and right on my forehead. Down I went. But lucky. No blood. No damage. No hospital. And no more first base.

So bad things can happen, and you can get away unscathed. Or you can become a headline. The Tulsa guy's number came up snake eyes.

Illinois just passed a state-wide ban on smoking in public places beginning in 2008. My guess is that there will be a line of law suits to over-turn the law, delay it, or make it otherwise unenforceable. Personally, I avoid smokey bars and the casinos, the two types of places that have the most smokers, so it doesn't have a down side for me. The clientele of those establishment are big-time smokers. There's lots of money involved. The lawyers will make millions.

A friend of mine who I met at SB's yesterday for some catching-up has a son who has had Ewing's sarcoma, and my friend has become very knowledgeable on cancer statistics. He says that about 40% of us will get some kind of cancer at some point. The damning thing is that 30% of that 40% can be attributed to smoking.

I'm headed home to my Russian cleaning lady cleaned house. Life is good.

Be careful out there.

Monday - Part II

The first day back has been ok, just not overly productive. It's almost a post-wedding let-down thing where there's no longer that big event out there in the near future that is all-consuming.

The Gathering of the Clan again confirmed that we have an interesting collection of boughs in the extended family tree. Phil and Margaret would be proud.

We were all impressed with St. Paul. The great paths for running, walking and biking are testimony to a municipality committed to fitness. I have always enjoyed the area. Of course, perfect weather adds to any occasion.

I'm off to catch up at home.

BCOT

Monday

I think that this has been my longest time between posts. Lots of water under the bridge since my last entry.

Many thanks to all who took their time to come to Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was a great weekend for our family.

I'll be adding more to this later. Just wanted everyone to know that the blog is back up.

BCOT

Tuesday

1's Big Day is rushing toward us. There won't be much time to add to the blog over the next few days. I need to pack and finish up around the house tonight, attend to a few business details tomorrow morning, and then head North after lunch.

4 arrived in the TC late last night after a late arrival in Newark from Rome, a missed connection on her scheduled flight to the TC, and a delayed departure on the re-scheduled flight. Sans luggage. Her experience of travel this Summer will likely make her a bit of a skeptic when it comes to future trips. But at least all the girls are safe and where they need to be.

I'm a little distracted at this point.

BCOT

Monday

Still in a bit of recovery mode from the Rule One problem yesterday.

2 and 4 both made it back to US soil, but 4's plane was late and she missed her connection with 2 out of Newark. They have her on a later plane. Hopefully, she'll get to the Twin Cities yet this evening. I'm sure details will follow on her blog over the next few days.

For 3, this is The First Day of the Rest of Her Life. (Her first day at her first real, post-college job.) Give 'em heck, girl!

It's a rest day on the TdF. The stage in the Alps yesterday was won by a noted climber who does not normally do well in the time trials which come later in the race. Most of the favorites are in arrears by three or four minutes, which can be easily recaptured in the two time trials. It's still any one's game.

Good luck to all this week. Lots of iron's in the fire.

BCOT

Sunday

Rule One applies again.

DeWitt this AM, but I put the bike on the deck right in the middle of town as I tried to carry the paper from the grocery store to the cafe. I was switching the paper between hands and lost my balance, and it wasn't pretty. I dislocated my right thumb, a few scrapes on other body parts, and buggered-up my front wheel. The thumb I self-doctored, putting it back in place. The wheel is trash. We called Pete's son for a ride home. I'm an idiot.

Perfect weather here.

The Cubs have put on a little run and they are only three games back on the loss side. The National League Central is a weak division, but StL took it to the house last year. It could happen for Chicago this year if they continue to get good pitching.

A-Rod is opting out of a $25 million a year contract, in the likelihood that he will get $30+ per year from NY or somebody next year. He's got all the leverage right now as his numbers year-to-date are career seasons for some players. Poor A-Rod. Then again, the guys running the successful hedge funds make A-Rod's dollars look like pocket change.

I've started making my lists for Minnesota. My departure is noon-ish on Wednesday. Is the bride down to counting hours to Fiday night?

They buried Lady Bird Johnson this weekend. She is a direct connection to JFK. I think we all remember the pictures of Lyndon Johnson taking the reins of power following JFK's assassination in Dallas in 1963. The Johnson Presidency will be forever remembered for Viet Nam. I hope that the memory of Iraq will not approach Viet Nam status 40 years from now.

The lead story in the local fish wrap today was the trending-upward price of milk. The producer is getting close to $20 per hundred-weight, which is nearly double that of a year ago. But as with most things economic, his costs have increased as well. The price of corn has been a big element, with ethanol use the big driver. I'm not convinced that the push to ethanol is anything but a political shell game in the long run. The environmentalists and "green" folks are big on the reusable feature of corn, but everything from the price of a steak to the price of Kellogg's cornflakes will be impacted by this new demand.

I'm off to salve my wounds and watch the Chicago race.

Good luck to the American-Italians as they make their way back.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Just a few lines today.

Glad that the girls in Rome enjoyed their day with the Pontiff.

I went over to the John Deere Classic late in the afternoon yesterday. The event has had ab fab weather all week. My pal Pete and I crashed the Wells Fargo corporate tent for treats. Once the golfing was over, those looking for Friday evening fun had the event's outdoor beer garden to visit. The party tent had a LOUD live band and there were lots of people, many of whom I knew. But I was an early departee. Just not my scene.

The TdF had it's first day in the Alps today and the sprinter who wore yellow all week finished twenty minutes behind today's winner. The heavy hitters all were in a pack (including four from Discovery) 3:38 off the winner's time, but that guy will probably be a one-day-wonder. Tomorrow will truly separate the men from the boys.

NASCAR is in Chicago this weekend. The word is officially out that Budweiser will not follow Junior next year. One of the theories is that the brewer really needs to find another "young gun" that fits their demographics better than the "older" guy Junior has become. So all those red-necks with Bud and 8 tattoo's will have to go through double-laser correction.

The Celebrity Golf Tour is at Lake Tahoe this week. The back drops for all the TV camera shots are spectacular. I keep looking for Uncle Phil on one of the patrol boats out there spotting those unruly yachtsmen.

In local news, tonight is the Eldridge Moonlight Chase four mile run. Good weather for the runners. Not even tempted.

33 out on the McCausland route this afternoon. It was a due West cross wind that I have determined is about the best wind to deal with on my normal routes, if you have to have wind. Maybe DeWitt for breakfast tomorrow. I have been trying to figure out my training schedule for the coming week. The bike will definitely be with me in Minnesota.

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend.

Be careful out there.

Friday

3 is back in C-town. We talked to her before noon today. Details to follow, we hope.

2 and 4 remain in Rome for another day. 4 has another entry on her blog.

I did a ride this AM, maybe the best conditions of the year. No wind. Little traffic. Just the 16 miler around DCC. It was so good that I may go for a replay on Saturday AM.

I had forgotten to mention that business about the Pope stating that non-Catholics had salvation problems, as 4 stated. You wonder what these guys are thinking.

Margret is out today.

We're heading out early today. More here tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday

The Girls in Europe made it to Pisa and Rome. 3 had a long day ahead of her with her final destination being London.

Another great day here. The forecast of "possible rain showers" never developed. Busy here in the office, and my ride this evening will be shorter and later than originally planned.

Congrats to Trisha and John in the Great Northwest. Twin girls!

Dan Patrick has announced his departure from ESPN. I think that he has figured out that he has options, and he's going to take his time to decide where he can best meet his personal and professional goals. To an extent, he comes across to me as a guy who thinks he knows more stuff than his audience, and that he matters. He's been a long-time bosom buddy of Kieth Obermann, and Obermann has taken his shstick into the mainstream news area. I'm not saying that Patrick is jealous of Obermann, but I think he sees a friend who has taken his act a little further afield in a successful manner. Why not himself?

I was tempted to call in a contribution yesterday to the Jimmy V Foundation. ESPN Radio was broadcasting information all day on an auction that was being held in conjunction with The Espy Awards which were handed out last night (the show was taped for showing this coming Sunday). I elected not to do so, mostly because I was in my car and I didn't like the idea of giving my credit card number out over a cell phone. I checked the ESPN and Jimmy V Foundation websites today, and have still not made a contribution, although I may do so in the future.

My philosophical concern is on how much of the charity's income goes to it's donative intent. It's the same question that I have for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and NASCAR's Victory Junction Camp. The whole problem is that when an organization gets to a bigger size, to keep growing, they need to spend money on their own bureaucracy, which means some dollars never make it directly to fighting cancer. My guess is that anything above 80% is pretty good.

There were another couple of examples in recent news of the predatory nature of our media. A Louisiana Senator got busted for being on the list of a Washington madam, and he immediately became the opening joke on late-night TV. A more edgy item involved a Chicago TV reporter (who is an Iowa grad and did time at a CR station) who was caught on video, in a bikini top, and with her kids, at the home of the "person of interest" husband in a high profile wife disappearance case that she was investigating for her station. The bikini top sold the story and it has been an inferno in Chicago.

My pal Bill is headed down to the Lake of the Ozarks for a long weekend. I could use a long weekend myself.

My pal Roy and I had dinner last night at Exotic Thai. He was on his own for the evening and needed company. We then dropped by Crow Valley to chat up a couple of business friends. We're working a deal to sell one of his companies and the buyers are trying to renegotiate the price. Not nice. One of the bartenderess's was a cute girl whom I overheard mentioning that she went to Creighton. I asked her about that, and it turns out she had recognized me as 2 and 3's Dad. She knew 3's friend Kristen, and I then put one and one together to conclude that I was talking to the former gal pal of one Michael K.

Hope The Travelers are all ok.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

4 had a very entertaining post today from Florence. www.trackingkch.blogspot.com She and 2 head to Rome tomorrow, and 3 begins her journey home from Pisa. 3 stops overnight in London, and then to C-town.

It's been a Top Ten day here today. Maybe 80 with no humidity. Lunch on the church steps at Golick's.

More later.

BCOT

Tuesday

The Road Show reported in from Florence. No casualties.

Major League Baseball's All-Star game is tonight in SF. It is impossible to pick up a paper, watch a TV baseball program, listen to a sports radio show, or view a sports Internet site without being deluged by Barry Bonds stories. The "Big Debate" is whether Bonds improved his home run prowess by taking steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. The media is just absolutely fixated on that story, particularly now that Bonds will likely soon break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

The story basically bores me. I've never been a Bonds fan, and he is kind of the anti-example of fan friendliness, for the better of the game, and other altruistic elements. He is definitely not in that small group of people whom I would walk across the street to meet. I still like baseball, but I rarely will go out of my way to make sure that I can catch a game on the tube. I look more forward to the College WS than I do any of the regular season major league games. Of course, Erin does most of those games...:)

The Yellow Jersey made a big statement today by winning a long, mostly boring stage in Northern France. The peloton let a small break stay away for most of the day, and only a desperate push in the last few miles brought the race together in the last kilometer. With perfect timing, Cancellarra burst from the pack and unexpectedly stole the win. It was a case of him not needing the stage win to keep in yellow, but of him wanting to let the other riders know who was the boss. Cool.

The world is in order. My Russian cleaning lady is back!

I know a few of the guys who ponied up $3500 or so to play in tomorrow's Pro-Am Day at the Deere Classic. For their money, they get a few tickets to the tournament, some parking passes, and a long, painful round of golf with three other duffers and one pro whom they may never have heard of before. And some souvenir photos on the first tee. What a deal.

I need to get to the homestead. Lawn duty tonight. Maybe a short spin around DCC to stretch the legs.

BCOT.

Monday

Computers in some parts of Europe seem to be hard to find. All's been quiet on that front.

There was a big crash near the end of today's 2nd stage of the TdF. It happened near the front of the peloton and left only a couple dozen riders to contest the finish. Since it happened within three clicks of the finish, there was no time lost by anyone, but there were some injuries, including a fractured thumb to one of Discovery's sprinter/domestiques (and he is now done for the Tour). The first week of the Tour can be very sketchy as the sprinters try to grab headlines while they can before the roads turn up. The Bigger Picture guys (known as "the GC riders", as in, General Classification) mainly try to stay out of harm's way on these days.

A little bit of controversy at the NASCAR race on Saturday night in Daytona. The second place finisher, Kyle Busch, is the Hendrick driver who is getting the boot at the end of the season to clear space for Junior. He complained afterwards that the 24, 48 and 25, all current teammates, did nothing to help him get to the checkers even though he had the best car. He may have been right. But his public airing of his gripes about that race is an example of the kind of immaturity that likely lead to his release. Everybody knows that he can get a car down the road. But, like his older brother, it's often, "Ready, Fire, Aim."

This is the week of the John Deere Classic, the PGA tournament that is hosted on a course on the Illinois side here in the Quad Cities. Typically, they get only a couple of the true headliner players, but the event is well-supported in the community and Deere has given a multi-year commitment as the title-sponsor. I usually don't go over as I like to avoid the crowds, but my pal Pete will likely want to visit the music tent one evening. We'll see.

One of my local acquaintances started the concept of "Birdies for Charity" at this tournament 10-12 years ago when he was on the event's volunteer Board of Directors. Birdies for Charity is a fund-raising idea tied to the number of birdies made by all golfers over the four days of the tournament. Charitable organizations go out and solicit pledges from individuals and businesses for per-birdie contributions. People often give a nickle or dime per birdie, and they get a bill in the mail once the tournament is over and total birdies have been calculated. It may have started slow, but now dozens, if not hundreds, of local charities participate.

Birdies for Charity became so successful that other PGA events elected to copy the concept. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My acquaintance gave out free advice to these other tournaments, and actually went down to Houston to help with the implementation of Birdies for Charity at their event. In another example of the curious twists in this screenplay that we call life, the chair for Houston's new Birdies for Charity committee was a single gal who, after a long-distance romance of a couple of years, is now married to my acquaintance.

It might be interesting to spend a little time evaluating the charitable aspects of the different major sporting organizations. There is a lot of money spent by the NBA, NFL and other pro sports on the "giving back" orientation of their organizations. It seems like every athlete who has signed a big contract has established his/her charitable foundation or the like. There have been stories about how some of these foundations never did any gifting, but rather served as straw men for family and friends.

Not all PGA golf tournaments are financially healthy. If they don't have a major corporate sponsor, they may not be able to keep the tournament alive. But if they do have solid finances, they can do a lot for their communities. It's an interesting dynamic. You need to be profitable to keep the tournament going. And if you are profitable, you have more money to give away.

It's kind of like parents and kids. But that's a different story.

Have a good evening (morning or day for those Over There).

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Just checking in. Quiet from the Old Country for a couple of days.

I did 38 early this morning before the heat. But it was a little longer, and further North, than I had planned, and the trip home included the last 15 or so dead into a 10-12 mph Southerly breeze. Not fun. I also had my first incident of minor road-rage for the Summer from a frustrated pick-up driver. As though I was keeping him from his destination at 6:45AM.

Here's a little news. There's a channel on the satellite called RFDTV. Guess what it's about? I got hooked on a segment the other night as they went through the science of properly filling a ground silo.

For those with the interest, VS. channel (#151 on the dish) is carrying the Tour, somewhat live in the AM, and then package on tape in the evening.

Less than two weeks for 1.

My high school 40th year class reunion is the same weekend as the wedding. Maybe I'll make the fiftieth.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

The TdF is underway.

I have no big plans for the day or the weekend. Biking later and then some domestic things. It's supposed to be in the 90's and humid. Welcome to Summer. I've had to turn on the air at my house.

In her column today, Ellen Goodman lashed out at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, an arch-conservative and the only African-American on the high court. Justice Thomas had a very controversial approval hearing when he was appointed in the early '90's. Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee that conducted the hearings leaked information to the press surrounding sexual harassment claims of a former assistant named Anita Hill. He was approved by a narrow margin, but remains a lightening rod for critics of the overall Conservative drift of the Court. It is doubtful if a Caucasian could have withstood the rancor that permeated the Thomas hearings.

Several recent decisions from the Court have been seized upon by the media as concrete evidence that the Bush appointments of Roberts and Alito have shifted the judiciary's bias to the Right. Since most of the mainstream media carry their own bias to the Left, this shift is decried as a further erosion of the rights of the Common Man (or Woman). While some of the decisions can raise blood pressure on their own merits, I think most of the fear on the Left is that there will be a reversal of Roe v. Wade.

There's also been a lot of outcry these days for the Libby commutation. Bill and Hillary even called into a talk show at WHO in Des Moines when they were in Iowa campaigning this week to add their outrage to the cacophony. This is the ultimate of the Pot calling the Kettle black.

For the first time in my immediate family's history, I feel a bit isolated from the girls. With 1 five hours away, and the other three now an ocean and several time zones away, it's a little lonely.

Here's an example of applying rules to the detriment of the what's right. Qualifying for tonight's Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona was rained out after 40 of 54 cars had completed their attempts. Rather than take another hour this morning to allow the other cars to finish the process, NASCAR applied the standard rule of setting the line-up by year-to-date driver/owner standings. This had the result of sending a handful of cars home that had actually qualified pretty high, including the guy who was on the provisional pole.

This action from the same organization that has recently made up rules on the fly to penalize teams who've been messn' with small body modifications on the new COT (Car of Tomorrow). The 24 was about 30th on time, but is starting first because of points. It ain't right. And I'm a 24 fan.

There was an accident yesterday morning on I-80 near IC with a Suburban carrying Pleasant Valley HS softball players on their way to games in DM. A tire blew out and sent the vehicle across the median and into on-coming traffic. Coach Amy was able to steer back into the grass median, but the van flipped in the process. All but one girl were properly seat-belted, but that girl was thrown from the vehicle. No major injuries. Lucky, lucky kids. (How long will it take for an attorney to look at responsibility for the kid who wasn't in her seat belt?)

All from here. Have a great weekend.

Be careful out there.

Friday

It's Friday.

No blog today.

BCOT

Thursday

Communication from Europe has improved. Sounds like a good trip so far. Now Berlin.

We had big rain early yesterday morning and the local creeks were all out of their banks. 3-5 inches throughout the area. Enough to kick my sump pump into frequent operation. But most of the holiday festivities went on with only minor problems. Lots of standing water in low places.

The TdF starts in London on Saturday. The first day of all the Grand Tours is a "Prologue", which is usually a fairly short, less than 10k, individual time trial. Saturday's is just short of 8k and ends at Buckingham Palace. The winner of that race wears the yellow jersey when the race starts the next day. The lead is usually just a couple of seconds, but the way the Tour works in the first week, that few second lead will often stand up for several stages.

The big news on the Tour this year is doping, doping, doping. I was in a conversation with someone today about why this seems to be such a big problem for cycling, and I think that much of it is the lack of centralized authority in the sport. The organizers of the three major Tours, Italy, France and Spain, are always at odds with the relatively newly organized Pro Tour people, and the cyclists themselves have their own union. Add in the provincialism that exists between countries and there are lots of moving parts looking for positions of authority.

I want to say that pro teams in the USA in say, the NBA or NASCAR, have the teams firmly under control, and they certainly have strong enforcement policies. But you have that cheatn' thing in NASCAR.

Europe also has cycling media vultures which don't really exist to the same degree in the US because pro cycling is a non-event here. Since cycling is so important in Europe (like soccer), there is a lot more interest in digging the dirt on the riders. It sells papers.

Speaking of sports media vultures, I have noticed this week that the mid-week falling of the 4th has caused numerous substitutions for the regular show hosts on ESPN and FSN radio. What is shocking to me is that these substitute hosts are so bad that they make the schleps for whom they are pinch-hitting look legitimate. Boy, is that tough to swallow.

Even Craig Wilson gets the week off? I mean, USA Today isn't published on the 4th, and he wasn't in today's paper. Maybe he hadn't had the chance to read my earlier stuff to author a piece this week.

My ride yesterday was too long. 41 miles. I had intended to do 25-30, but got caught by a detour on Utica Ridge, and my choice around the detour wasn't too bright. It was hot and windy, and not much fun.

The choice of wine for the wedding is a work in progress. I need to have another chat with the caterer. One of the whites (the pinot grigio) is ok, but the chardonnay failed the taste test. More on this tomorrow. The great part of buying wine at a restaurant is that you get to pay about three times the price that the same exact bottle costs at Hy Vee. Pretty soon, you'll have people selling bottled water.

Bill and Hillary were in Iowa campaigning for four days. Somehow, I missed them.

Have a great evening. (Or "day", depending on when you might be reading this!)

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I received a brief email from 3 this AM. Sounds like they had a good first day on their tour of Paris.

Happy 4th to all.

BCOT