Tuesday

I'm more than a little disappointed that I'm not in IC tonight. 4 had a conflict. No Airliner pizza for me. :(

Nothing but "Wall Street bailout" on the news the last couple of days. The purists remain irate and want the ship to crash and burn so that the Phoenix can eventually rise from the ashes. While that path would likely prove, in the long run, that the free market system works, there would be a lot of collateral damage along Main Street in the short run.

OK. Its official. Galveston is requesting $2.2 billion for reconstruction. According to that pillar of factual information, the NYT, that request works out to about $37K per resident. Why not? The folks living below sea level in New Orleans are still at the Federal teat. Or is that, trough?

Here's a good one. Chicago's Mayor Daley wants the bars around Wrigley (and Sox Park if they get in to the playoffs) to stop serving beer after the 7th inning to try to keep a lid on rowdiness among the fans. Let's see. On what will most certainly be one (or more) of the most exciting days around the ball park, the Mayor wants the bar owners to cap their profits at seven innings worth. Only a PC politician could come up with that one.

Let's see. Biden can't shut up. Palin won't talk. Both are hung out to dry by the Fourth Estate. Arguably, each side could use a little of the other.

How 'bout this? From the distinct philosophical leanings of the Hollywood crowd, is it any surprise that the West's Washington-Oregon-California border is often referred to as the Left Coast?

On the Inflation Front. I used to buy those tart, green Granny Smith apples at HyVee for $1.29 a pound, maybe 3-4 years ago. The price inched up over time, and they kind of went off my radar screen when they regularly got to $1.89 - 1.99. The price tonight: $2.69. ExxonMobile's got nothin' on HyVee.

One of the Midwest's rural-oriented retailers is called Blain's Farm & Fleet. It sells a variety of hardware, tools, automotive equipment and lots of other stuff used around the home, garage and farm. I always thought that "Blain" was some guy's first name. Turns out that "Blain" was a couple of brothers' last name. Given the propensity of today's parents to pick gender-neutral and family surnames as first names, tomorrow's store owners will be even less easy to identify.

Hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Sunday PM

Here's to the USA team on their victory in the Ryder Cup, the biannual golfing competition between the US and Europe. I spent a few more hours in front of the TV today, and while today's singles matches (one-on-one) definitely had excitement, it wasn't quite at the same level as yesterday's two-man theater (two-on-two).

For the shallow-golf-knowledge crowd, the Ryder Cup is one of the few times where scores are maintained on a, "who wins the hole", or match scoring basis. In the regular weekly tour events, scores are maintained on a "stroke play" basis: lowest cumulative score after four rounds wins. In match play, you can just totally screw up one hole, but you only lose that hole. If you play lights out the next hole, you can win that hole and cancel out the poorly played hole. If you win more holes than the other guy in the 18 hole match, you win one point for the team. If you tie, you each get a half point. There are 28 matches scheduled over the three days. The first team to 14 1/2 points wins the Cup. (There are a few more rules, but that's the gist of it.)

BBQ over at 2's tonight. She's trying to get prepared to entertain a few friends later this week, and she isn't exactly an experienced chef on the grill. We did chicken breasts and asparagus. Not bad.

I'm boycotting Sunday Night Football on NBC. (I'm not that big of an NFL fan to start with, but that's not the point.) They advertised their broadcast of tonight's game so many times during the golf, that if they were held to human standards, they would have been written up for public indecency. Of course, their rah-rah studio crew includes Kieth Olbermann, and I refuse to watch or listen to him spout his elitist gibberish.

In case you missed it, Europe's new Super Collider is broken. I'm not sure what it does, but it sounds like a lot of pork-barrel funding. I wouldn't be surprised if they found some US dollars behind it. We back everything.

So have a great week.

BCOT

Sunday

This really should have been written yesterday. I got hooked on watching the Ryder Cup golf matches all day yesterday and was as unproductive as a person can get on a weekend day. Hardly made it off the couch. And, fortunately, missed most of the Iowa and ND football losses.

Here's a little love to RevKev for his documented ride up Mt. Diablo. Personally, I go into training for a period of months before I try riding the mountains. But I'm old and less bold. (There's that adage that has application here: "You have old riders. And you have bold riders. But you don't have old, bold riders.")

This is a Sunday at SBs. Lousy music. Is eclectic part of their corporate mission statement?

For those into astronomy, we are at (or almost at) the autumnal equinox. I read the Wikipedia definition, and I still don't understand it. I know that it has to do with the position of the sun in relation to the Earth's equator, but the math befuddles me. Technically, I think that its the time that you're supposed to go from the searsucker sports coat to the camel hair or tweed.

This should be an interesting week for the politicians. The Federal bailout of the financial industry will be widely debated among the pundits and sages. Truthfully, it may be years before we know whether the action will be successful, or the costs. The shorts, hedge fund managers, and free market fundamentalists are p...ed off. Wreckless lenders, bankers, borrowers, investors, insurers, and regulators (all of whom except maybe the most naive of the borrowers should have known better) are getting a modified "do-over".

But Washington was caught in the unenviable position of the rock and the hard place. To do nothing would likely have accelerated a strong downturn, and immediate financial losses for most people on Main Street. But the action to step in and call this "time out" flies in the face of the free market. Lots of critics on either side. But while the academicians may want Uncle Sam to stay out of the way, Main Street has more voters, most of whom are crying, "uncle".

Obama will paint this as a Bush-inspired catastrophe. (Shocking!) McPalin will refer to the Clinton's and the Democratic-controlled Congress. (Equally shocking!) This Friday's debate is supposed to be on foreign policy, but I suspect that it will trend toward the economic mess as there are huge implications on the world's economy from the sub-prime black hole.

In much more-upbeat news, the Cubs clinched their division yesterday at Wrigley with a win over the Cards. My suspicion is that there were a few adult beverages consumed in the establishments around Wrigleyville last night. That would have been a good place to be.

Pretty quiet in Boston and IC. What's going on?

More later.

BCOT

Thursday

4 seemed to have a good time at the rally this AM. Although Palin did open up her remarks by saying how happy she was to be in "Grand" Rapids. And I think she mis-named the local hockey team. Still waiting on the report.

Another 35 minute training run tonight. Lots of ibuprofen and a tight leg sleeve left over from the ACL surgery. Not bad results.

My pal Bill heads over to South Bend tomorrow to watch his son run in a major cross country meet at ND. I can honestly say that I didn't know that ND had a cross country team during my four years there. I'm not sure if I even knew that there was a sport called cross country. (I did know some "track" guys.) I've given Bill instructions on where to find my name on the letter winners list in the basketball arena complex.

My neighbors are having a fish fry at their place tomorrow night. They caught some trout up in northeast Iowa last month and are grilling a mess up on their grill for a few neighbors and friends. I still remember one particular "shore lunch" cooked up by our guide on the one Canadian fishing trip I took with the guys as still being one of my Top Ten best meals, ever.

Huge win at Wrigley for the Cubs today. Four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie, and a two-out single in the twelfth to win. The magic number is down to two.

Wall Street went on another roller coaster ride today, this time ending the day on an up note. The uptick was driven by the word that the regulators and politicians were getting together to come up with a comprehensive plan to address the major issues. I never have a great deal of confidence when a bunch of legislators have an impromptu presentation in a Capital Hill hallway expressing their commitment to quickly work out a solution to a national crisis level problem. When said gang is led by Nancy Pelosi, expectations need to be ratcheted down a few more notches.

Is there any possibility that cell phone use will be banned by all operators of cars, boats and planes? I see where California has banned train engineers from cell phone use while on duty as a result of the train crash last week. Its a lay-up. But there will be interest groups that will argue against such a ban, the same way the NRA argues against gun regulations, and the ACLU argues for the right to burn the flag.

I haven't been able to keep up on the latest O.J. Simpson trial.

I'm thinking that it will be a Margret day tomorrow.

BCOT

Wednesday

Another brutal date on Wall Street. I wouldn't normally add a cartoon this size to the blog, but this one hits most of the points from my earlier comments on the credit crisis, and I wanted the caption in the upper left to be readable. And it gives appropriate credit to most of the players in the mortgage food chain.

Of course, the politicians are continuing their finger-pointing, each to the other side. As though this all evolved last week. Bottom line: I suspect that the mess helps the Dems. Since the GOP has the White House currently, the natural reaction of the public is to say, "Let the other guys give it a shot."

My Turkey Trot training is off to a slow start. I had forgotten that I had received a cortisone shot in my right knee last Spring after experiencing some pain. The actual diagnosis then was a meniscus problem, but the Doc suggested a cortisone shot as an alternative to a "scope procedure. I don't think that the shot really helped that much, but the knee really never gave me that much of a problem cycling (since there's not the impact or twisting to the joint). And I had no interest in more medical work being done on me. We'll see if ibuprofen can control the pain. I'll be real upset if it becomes intolerable.

4 says that she is headed to Cedar Rapids early tomorrow for the McCain-Palin rally. I'll be interested in a report.

I took off from work early yesterday so that I could mowed my yard before heading over to IC. To preclude a messy looking yard after the fact, I had to raise the deck on the mower and catch the clippings because the grass was so long. And I'll have to mow again Saturday to get the grass down to the regular level. Home ownership is a beach. But it is September, and I'm guessing that the number of mowing events for the rest of the year is in the single digits. The glass is half full.

I am now the owner of a Napa Valley grape-colored cycling jersey. Compliments of my pal Roy from his trip there last week. He figured that a cycling wine snob like me needed the new look. I'll be making good use of it...next year.

I was wrong last week about Tuesday and Wednesday being the only nights without football. ESPN2 had a game tonight between K State and L'ville.

Isn't rebuilding Galveston Island a little like betting on a will-won't proposition? I mean, building homes on stilts, on the beach, in a traditional hurricane zone, is just testing likelihoods, isn't it? Maybe Vegas will establish an "over-under" line on how long a newly constructed place there will last. I suppose that the insurance companies actually have to do just that. And in that regard, I suppose that any insurance company that sharpens the pencil and elects to stop writing these types of policies in Texas will be accused of discrimination.

Some other possible over-under bets:

1. Trailer home in Oklahoma.
2. Any Hollywood marriage.
3. An NBA coach's tenure.
4. Latest-greatest cell phone.
5. Episodes of a new 1/2 hour comedy.

Looks like great weather through the weekend. Get out there and enjoy it.

BCOT

Monday

Tough day on Wall Street. The unraveling of Lehman Brothers, the disposition of Merrill, and the imminent demise of AIG have even the most hardened financial services observers/operators wondering about the next to fall.

My pal Roy always talks about the lions looking for the water buffalo (also known as a wildebeest) walking with a limp at the edge of the herd. The same strategy applies among the short sellers in the stock market. Merrill was sold because they figured out that they were "next" among the investment banks (after the market had bled Lehman to death) that might have trouble surviving in the spotlight. Now the focus will shift to other free-standing lenders. Maybe Wachovia.

In my photo here, those birds sitting on Bossy's back could be the shorts. Along for the ride, but taking off to the next target once the lions show up.

Lots of blame to go around on this. Greed. At every level. From John Doe who took a mortgage on a property that he could not afford. To the mortgage broker who took the commission to write up the paperwork. To the Countrywide's who packaged the paper and passed it on to the investment bankers. To the bankers who sliced and diced the paper into high paying mortgage-backed bonds. To the insurers who gave the reconstructed securities their AAA rating. To the brokers who then sold the AAA paper to John Q. Retiree. And don't let John Q. Retiree totally off the hook: he wanted a rate of return higher than what he could get on a CD.

Lots of very smart people let this all go on. Greed creates short memories. Its a "new economy". Real estate isn't the same as Dot-com. The new mortgage-backed paper is insured and therefore can't go down. The people who put it all together have only the safety and security of the ultimate buyers in mind.

All lies. Everybody was selling the stuff to feather their own nests.

The politicians are playing their typical game of Four Dogs Playing Poker on this one. Blame the other guy. Its the season. For another 50 days.

Today's filing date passed with little fanfare. The same guys who file on the last day every year showed up today. If I had one wish for the tax side of my business, it would be that this last-day crowd changed their ways to a-month-from-the-last-day crowd.

My pal Bill did a full day of tailgating with his family in IC on Saturday for the Iowa State game. They got up there and parked in a yard just off of Melrose (for 60 bucks!) by 7:30AM. In the rain! I had called his cell to ask if he took a portable sump pump, but he didn't return my call. He said today the the $60 was a deal as it should have been $80 because of their tent. He didn't hear the call for "Big Ass Turkey Legs", but he said that he saw a bunch of turkey bones in the trash locations.

Another venture to IC tomorrow to see 4.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

We didn't get Ike (I don't think), but we've had lots of rain here this weekend. The drought is over.

Congrats to the Hawks for their win yesterday. But what's the deal with that late safety? If the spread was 13 1/2, and they were ahead 17-3 on that 4th down with less than a minute to go, where do you think the coaches' money was to lead them to deciding that a punt was too risky?

Then we have the nimble Charlie Weis getting clobbered on the sideline in a case of collateral damage. I watched it once, and it wasn't pretty. He'll have the same surgery as Tom Brady. The left ACL is the same injury that I incurred now almost 20 years ago. They'll want him to lose weight to make his rehab more successful.

The Irish were a little better than the awful Michigan Wolverines. I'm assuming that the new guy at Michigan can coach. I mean, he did win a lot of games at West Virginia. Too bad they aren't on Iowa's schedule this year. (Nor is Ohio State. Could that mean two more victories than might be otherwise expected?)

I didn't know it, but my cycling season ended, unannounced, last Sunday. I got way-laid during the week with other scheduling issues. And rained-out this weekend. Hello Turkey Trot training! (The only open point is that I need to track down the t-shirt that I was supposed to get for today's Century ride.)

I felt like Mr Handyman yesterday. It was first a little electrical repair on a light switch to 2's basement (that was broken during the delivery of her W-D). Then the connection of the W-D to the gas, water and vents to the appropriate access points. Not overly complicated work, but I've been known to screw it up in the past.

Then I applied those same skills to a broken sump pump over at SRH's. The biggest challenge there was to get compatible connectors to the pump and the existing discharge PVC piping to the outside. Like most home repair, they're usually various ways to skin a cat (no offense,4), and I ultimately chose a gay device (as opposed to a male or female option). This is an example of my progress to Liberalism.

I've had another incident of computerize flight-schedule change-notification. This time it was for a flight that I'm scheduled to take in mid-October. It looks like its just a small time change. The real interesting thing is that I had forgotten that I had made the reservation! For the last couple of weeks, I have been meaning to get on-line to buy my ticket to Phoenix for a conference that I am registered to attend. Obviously, the early-Alzheimer's drug hasn't started to kick in yet.

My pal Roy spent the better part of last week in Napa doing a little golf and wine with a group of friends. Sounds like he joined a number of wine clubs, which may help to upgrade my own wine cellar, generous pal that he is. (Actually, my wine cellar might be more accurately described as a wine shelf, but why quibble on definitions?)

I missed the Tina Fey bit on Palin last night. Sounds like it went pretty well. SNL has made political mimicry a cultural staple. Its an entertainment show and has a long history of poking fun at anyone in the news. (Its also the three letter solution to a frequent crossword clue, "Late-night TV staple".) Personally, its brand of humor (epitomized by SNL alum Will Farrell) has never appealed to me.

So hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Thursday

Today is the seven year anniversary of 9-11. A small recognition today for the casualties, survivors, rescuers and all associated parties.

No politics here. There is an enemy out there who will make another attempt to kill our citizens in a manner to achieve maximum effect. This is one area that we all need to recognize the need for our country to stand on watch.

Somewhat relatedly, any bets on whether General Petraeus will eventually make it to politics a la Colin Powell? He should be considered for Secretary of Defense. For either candidate.

2 has a new washer/dryer set in her basement. Not in service yet. But there.

Tuesday and Wednesday have become the only days of the week without football on TV. Taking the lead from college reality of the weekend starting on Thursday evening, ESPN has a Thursday night game now. Not that North Carolina-Rutgers is much of a game.

I saw the new Microsoft commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld for the first time tonight. I didn't/don't get it. Are both of those guys just bored?

Another week. Another hurricane in the Gulf. One of the reasons that these things cause so much damage is that we've built stuff (commercial industrial, and residential) in the middle of the frequent paths of the storms. Kind of like how the fires and mudslides out West cause more and more damage to homes built in the forests and on the hills. Of course, most of these problems are because of George Bush.

Hope everyone has a good Friday. I'm looking forward to a little TGIF relief tomorrow evening.

BCOT

Wednesday

Here's to 1 as Daughter of the Day. She had her first day on her long term sub job. Be a star, Kiddo.

And 3 is a provisional Daughter of the Day for becoming the indispensable heartbeat of her banking group in Boston. Her report today has her juggling several tasks and keeping her boss on point. Sounds like a good move for her to the Right Coast.

Great evening in IC last night. But The Airliner is no place for Chicago style deep dish pizza. We'll be back to the regular crust next week.

The politicians need to ratchet down the rhetoric and "gotcha" games. All of the various handlers and strategists are like trial lawyers: they really don't care about the truth; they just want to win.

Still up to my ears with some deadline tax returns. It ain't any fun.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Monday

They're projecting a low in the 40's tonight. I'm not complaining, but with that and the rapidly shortening days, we all know what comes next. But at our Scott Street house in Davenport, I always figured that I'd have a couple of weekends late into October, or even November to swap out the screens for the storm windows. So no reason to panic just yet.

Tuesday evening at The Airliner with 4 is on my schedule tomorrow. Its Iowa-Iowa State this week in IC. With both teams at 2-0 after the cupcake portion of their schedules, hope is high in both camps. The early line is Iowa -12. That's a lot of points in a game often driven by emotion. And the Hawks under Ferentz haven't exactly excelled in this annual grudge match. I know little about ISU at this point, but I'd be inclined to take the underdog on this one.

My most recent misplacement story is on my garage door opener. I tossed it in my recycling bin this morning (I think.) And I almost missed another meeting this afternoon. Although this is one that I didn't even put on my calendar. Because September 8th was way too far into the future to worry about.

I'm going to check out that early-Alzheimer's drug they're touting on commercial breaks in the network news telecasts and Wheel of Fortune. I can't remember the name of it. (Big Pharma owns the ad time on those shows. Count 'em sometime.)

Are we truly a free-market economy if we continue to bail out company's and institutions that are too important to fail? Bear Stearns. Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac. They say Ford and GM are next in line. The dollar's printing presses will wear out. Don't be fooled by today's short-covering rally.

On the Internet today, they have Lance Armstrong following Brett Favre out of retirement. He's already back on the drug-testing program. My guess is that he's figured out that he still has the ability to compete, and he's bored in his quasi-political efforts. Maybe he just needed a break like Jordan did when he spent time in minor league baseball. If Astana were to bring him back, my bet is that he could ride the wheels of their other studs and still win a big stage race.

Incidentally, today was the first stage in this week's Tour of Missouri. Those of you with a cycling interest, and we know that we have a new one in the crowd, can check it out at www.tourofmissouri.com

A couple of my favorite commentators, Olberman and Matthews, had their anchor responsibilities yanked for MSNBC's future political coverage. I'm shocked that such even-keeled reporters would get that kind of treatment.

All for tonight. I doubt if I get back in time from IC for a Tuesday entry.

BCOT

Sunday

Just a few lines tonight.

I didn't get up to go with the boys to DeWitt early this AM. I chose the SBs route instead. (I read parts of the NYT, but not the magazine. Is there anybody in that paper who claims to be a Republican? Actually, the William Safire column wore me out. Each paragraph had at least one word that was new to me. Does he write with a Roget at his side?)

My ride this afternoon was a 33-miler to McCausland and back. Didn't enjoy a single part of it. Is that a sign that the biking season is over? It seemed like I was riding into a head wind regardless of the direction that I was headed. And I was passed a couple of times by guys who made me feel like I was standing still. (As a general rule, those biker studs are not a friendly lot. They usually make no effort at a greeting, or a response to mine.)

This especially to 4. I went through an, "I lost my glasses", episode yesterday morning. She had a problem with car keys one memorable time last year. Weren't they found in the garbage at the gas station? In my case, I had taken my regular glasses along in Margret for morning coffee while wearing my sun glasses. I reached for the regular glasses when I arrived at SB, but they weren't on the seat beside me. I rationalized that I had left them at home.

When I got home later on, I looked, but couldn't find the glasses. I looked twice in and under Margret's seats. No luck. I was confounded. On a "retrace your steps" protocol, I stopped at the 18th and 53rd streets BP (where I had purchased the Saturday papers on the way to SBs) on my way out of town on my ride, including going through the garbage where I had deposited a small bag of such stuff on my way into the store. Still no luck. As a final act, I went in and asked the clerk if anyone had turned in a set of glasses. Bingo! Someone had found them on the sidewalk outside the door to the store. Life is full of such unintended fun.

2 now has an operational Weber grill at her new house. With a supply of charcoal and lighter fluid. She's doing a nice job with her new place.

Busy week in my future. September 15th is a due date for 2007 corporate returns, and I have a small hand full to finish up. Not one of my favorite times of the year.

Hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Saturday

How 'bout them Hawks? Big day in IC. 42-zip. And I don't think that the game was as close as the score indicates. FIU must be a real powerhouse.

ND struggled against Chuck Long-led San Diego State. A favorable "homer" call on a fumble at the ND goal line gave the Irish the break they needed. Could be another year of underachieving by the Weis crew.

33+ this morning. Maybe DeWitt tomorrow. It was actually a bit too cool for comfort on a bike at 6:30 this morning.

I golfed with a client in Muscatine yesterday afternoon at my pal Roy's home club (where I have been a true non-resident member for the Summer). My back lasted for about 13 holes. Those last couple in particular were u-g-l-y. Maybe my Winter exercise program will include some lower back work.

Its official. My 2008 tomato crop was a failure. The four plants may have produced a total of 50 edible tomatoes. My neighbor and I have concluded that we have some tomato-loving critters and birds in the area. Next year, my garden will have a fence and protective netting. (I can't believe I just said that. Since when did birds like tomatoes?)

And I mowed my yard this afternoon for the first time since coming home from Tahoe. Gustav gave us enough rain to bring a little life back to the grass. The broad-leaf weeds and dandelions grew in the absence of water, but the grass had started to go dormant. If there's rain in the forecast, I'm laying down a strong treatment of Weed & Feed.

Revkev (you'll always be Revkev to us!), I'm thinking that you've broken Blog Protocol 101 by commenting on your own blog.

Is there anything as silly as a reporter standing on a street near an Atlantic beach being buffeted by hurricane-level winds and rain "reporting" the weather? With all the storms now being reported on, you can't turn on The Weather Channel or any of the big cable networks without one of these shots. It really adds to the news.

Interesting combination of players for the multi-TV-network cancer special last night. The three networks' evening news anchors appeared on stage together, and there were many "stars" and celebrities involved. Lance Armstrong among them in Chicago.

McCain and Obama are set to appear together at Ground Zero on 9-11.

We can unite as a nation for almost any disaster. (Although, of course, most of those disasters are because of George Bush.) Voter registration cards aren't checked when sandbagging a surging Mississippi River. Or when the roads close for a Winter blizzard.

We also unite behind our successful teams or heroes. Did anyone ask Michael Phelps his political preferences before that last gold medal race? (Well, Katie Kouric tried to, but Bob Costas cut her off.)

I have no answers. I'm still trying to figure out the questions.

Have a great Sunday.

BCOT

Thursday

We have the remnants of Hurricane Gustav over us today. Needed rain. Although this was the first day in six weeks that I had scheduled a round of golf. Maybe a Tuscan red night. The very warm days of last weekend are gone, and we have the feel of Fall.

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I was among the millions who watched the Palin speech last night. I'm still not convinced that she is out of the vetting woods. The adage that you don't tick-off reporters whose employers buy ink by the barrel is still relevant (although most of the new media uses electronic distribution methods). Provided that she survives any further disclosures, the campaign for the White House could be interesting.

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The Cubs are in a bit of a bother. Five straight losses. At home. Two top pitchers with arm problems. Quiet bats. Are they far enough ahead to not worry?

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4 and I had a fine evening at The Airliner Tuesday. It could be come a regular date. I was the oldest guy there.

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Another big down day in the market today. Very little good news and bad fundamentals. Oil down, the Dollar up, but lots of uncertainty in the Financials. And lots of housing inventory. A slowing of the world's economy. I suspect that there will be more bad news to come. Cash is not a bad place to be.

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(These dots between paragraphs is my response to the Blogger system not letting me put a line between paragraphs. Software gremlins.)

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3 reports from Boston that she has fought a persistent computer virus on her office-owned laptop for several days now. Most of us have experienced something like that in our computer histories. A few years back, I opened an innocuous looking message (not the attachment) from a client, and it proceeded to infect our local Network, and was sent automatically to my Contacts list. Which infected several other Networks. It was not an "inappropriate" email. But insidiously effective. And not easily "scrubbed" from our system. Very embarrassing.

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Here's another PC debate: does the LPGA step out of bounds by requiring players to speak English? I fall more on the side that says, yes, they ought to have some facility with the language. I'm not of a mind that players should be suspended if they don't comply, but the economics of their tour suggests that the subject should be ignored. The pro-am's that produce a lot of money for the events rely on local amateurs to fork up $3,000-$5,000 (or more) for the privilege to play a Wednesday round with one of the pros. If I'm paying that kind of money to play with a player who can't even talk to me, the experience is a little hollow.

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The NBA stepped up a few years back and instituted a dress code for players. There was some grousing, but David Stern made it stick, and now you just don't see the players show up for a game or a team-sponsored event in 'hood garb. The LPGA is comprised of non-unionized, independent contractors, and they don't have the administrative leadership of a David Stern, so its not a direct comparison. But the economic principles do apply.

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Have a great evening.

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BCOT

Tuesday

Does this feel like Monday or what?

Somehow I just never got back to the computer this weekend. It wasn't that I was overly busy. Inspiration was temporarily absent. I did get another good 20+ miler in on Sunday, and my pale Bill's daughter Molli got married in a nice deal on Sunday evening. But Monday was very laid back. Assembling my new grill (and using it twice!) was the highlight of my accomplishments.

I'm headed over to IC tonight for an early dinner with 4. Pizza at The Airliner. I'm shooting for elevating the average age in the place this evening.

The media feeding frenzy on Sarah Palin continues. Support/ridicule in the blogsphere/media seems to fall predictably along party lines. Life in the spot light will eventually reveal every blemish. She's the prey in a very public game of "Gotcha".

I also stopped out at the McCausland classic car show yesterday. They must have had 300-400 cars lined up throughout town. But no Margret look-alike. I would have stayed past one beer and a quick walk-through, but the 90+ temperature chased me home in short order.

I'll add more to this later after my visit with 4.

BCOT

Saturday

This is a shout out to my pal Pete. He drug me through 30 miles this afternoon when I absolutely would have stayed on the couch if he had not called. And I was pathetic. Way too much Sonia red last night. For his outstanding efforts, he is Pal of the Day, a new, but important recognition for 4000 Days.

Pete and I will be doing the local bike club's "century" ride in two weeks, which will be the last significant ride for me for the Summer. He'll do the metric century (62.5 miles), and I'll do a half century (50 miles), kind of like a half marathon. Believe me, 50 will be a marathon for me. I don't want to clutter his ride with my lack of speed. He has a couple of other guys with whom he regularly rides, faster, so we'll connect at the rest stops.

And here's a small shout out to 3 who is playing tourist in Washington DC this weekend. I know that she was a little worried about missing some Iowa FFF, but it didn't happen. 4 blew in and out of town before I could fire up my new grill. We did watch part of the Iowa game today over lunch at Sport's Fans. Hardly FFF worthy.

Actually, for less than full-family attendance events in the future, I'll be using some lower case "f"s.

Iowa's "No Smoking" law has been interpreted to extend to the parking lots at State university football games. The fans can BBQ, but not smoke. Let's hear it for decisions by committees.

I will be curious, along with most of the rest of the country, as the vetting of Sarah Palin hits full stride. The Democrats would love to find some Alaskan dirt with sticking power. The Republicans fear the same. I'm pretty confident that this Sunday's NYT will present a balanced point of view.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

BCOT

Thursday

Is Thursday night the official beginning of the Labor Day weekend? I did my 16 miler as a kick-off effort. With the days getting shorter, you really shouldn't be out on a bike much after 7.

Here's a little recognition to 1 and 1.1 since they won't be down here for the weekend.

Tonight does kick-off college football. Several games being played tonight. Personally, I've never got used to real football being played in August.

I'm still claiming to suffer from flight-cancellation hang-over. Ever since that middle-of-the-night automated call canceling our early morning departure for vacation, and the subsequent long day of travel, I have felt this odd mis-connection from normal. Yesterday, I failed to remember a 4:30 client meeting that had been on the schedule for a couple of weeks, and I had even double scheduled myself by making a date to see 4 for din-din in IC. In the end, I had to miss 4, and was a half hour late for my meeting. That's just being a step off on the dance routine.

Tonight is a big day in Major League Baseball. For the Cubs-Phillies game tonight, they are using Instant Replay for the first time. How long will it take for the umps/administrators to screw this one up? They are following the lead of Little League Baseball which used the concept in the recently completed LL WS.

What do you say that we get the two Presidential candidates and their handlers to agree to pull their respective favorite hole cards out of play for the Fall campaign? No race or soldier references, on offense or defense. Everybody knows the Big O is Black and that there hasn't been a Black President and that there has been prejudice in America against Blacks. Similarly, everybody knows that McCain spent several years in the Hanoi Hilton as a POW while in service to his country. I say, "Enough".

Another pretty decent, moderately-priced California Cabernet: Murphy Goode. Around $15.

4 is due home tonight for the first time since heading back to IC after Tahoe. Sounds like FFF this weekend. I'm considering a new grill, with a hand-me-down of my Weber to 2 for her new house. I've come to appreciate a little more space on the grill when I am cooking for more than two, and I've been checking out Labor Day sales at the home improvement stores.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be adding to the blog along the way.

BCOT

Tuesday

The reason that my ashes are to be spread at the top of Mt. Rose is because I expect you guys to always get back to Lake Tahoe together. (BTW, do the spreading surreptitiously. I don't think that permission is likely from the local constabulary. And any of you "green" folk in the peanut gallery, "Get over it!")

It has been difficult to concentrate on work these last couple of days as I have been enjoying the unbiased reporting of the Democratic National Convention from Denver. I may not be able to sleep to night from the excitement of Hillary's speech.

2 was tangentially related to a Big O story on last night's local news. The Big O was in town for a small gathering of undecideds (right!), and somehow he was encouraged to call the proprietor of Ross's in Bettendorf, one of our favorite breakfast places. And home to the Magic Mountain, a concoction of pancakes, eggs, gravy and who knows what else. 2 is the only person whom I know who orders a Morning Mountain. No wonder she's a Big O supporter!

My pal Roy is at Yankee Stadium tonight for the Boston-New York game. I'm a little envious. But from a Aesop-ian point of view, it is an American League game. (You might need Wikipedia to figure that one out.)

All for tonight.

BCOT

Monday

The Top Ten things that I learned on my Summer vacation, not necessarily in order of importance:

1. A "Full-Sized" rental car seats five, not six. That front console is a game-breaker. We're talking "Luxury" car in the future. Four adults don't fit in the back of an Imapla. In my family, based on a 20 year recollection, 4 girls of any age don't fit in that confined of a space. Live and re-learn.

2. A Lake Tahoe vacation is a lay-up. It can't be screwed up. A day at Sand Harbor is perfect.

3. Renting a good road bike is a much better option than trying to transport your own by air or delivery service. Not only are the economics at least as good, if not better, you don't have the hassle of handling the out-sized box. And with my skill level on the bike, and the quality of the average rental bike, why think that your riding experience will be measurably less? Hello Italian bike.

4. A mobile office can work. Technology can allow you to remain in communication with customers and perform most functions regardless of your location. I participated in a 4-way conference call on my cell phone in the middle of a ride up Mt. Rose on one day, and handled all my email each morning so that there was no backlog on my return.

5. Our clan can drink some wine. And I'm not sure that it has to be all that good of wine to meet our minimum criteria. (Aunt Margaret and Uncle Howard do help out with the average consumption rate.)

6. One week is not enough of vacation to cleanse the mind and body of the stress/challenges of everyday living. Then again, when you get to be this old, if you get away too long, you forget what it is that you're supposed to be doing. Tough call.

7. One community laptop computer with open wireless access to all is enough for the fam for this kind of trip. Since we don't spend that much time in the condo, the extra machines would just become baggage.

8. I could probably spend a little more time at the Hot August Nights auction. Its worth a return trip in a future year. And I will get bidders' credentials.

9. Starbucks is a family addiction. The Incline Village SBs is one of my Top 5 favorite SBs. Its also handy to have our rental unit within walking distance of the coffee shop. With The Sev and Raley's all right there, what more could a family on vacation need?

10. Air Travel is a crap shoot. (Like this is new news.) Next time, the direct flight to Reno out of ORD will be my first choice.

All in all, Lake Tahoe is a wonderful Summer place to visit. I'm thinking that the snow in Winter might get old (although Uncle Phil says not). Traffic around the lake can get iffy, but if you pick your spots, its not awful. Wally beers on the deck at the Embassy Suites will never get old.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

Great day here in the QCA. The last week of Summer?

I seriously considered picking up the NYT this morning to capture the full experience of a SB's Sunday morning, but I hedged my action first by reading a couple of their on-line pieces, and thus decided to save my $5.

Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate was fairly predictable. It gives the ticket some strength in areas where the nominee may be lacking, and it brings in an unhesitating attack dog to back up a candidate who likes to stay above the fray. This selection may also be the linkage needed to bring the Clinton branch of the party back into the fold. Interestingly, you also add a career politician, a classic Washington insider, to the Candidacy of Change.

In politics, ultimately, everything is about getting elected. And in the current environment, for virtually all Democrats, the battle cry is, "Anybody but the Bushies!" That unifying sentiment should be enough to win in November.

I mean, how many houses do you own? Really.

Switching gears...

One story from the Olympics that I have followed now for several weeks is the case of Becky Hammon, a South Dakota native who played for the Russian women's basketball team. There are many cases of curious connections of athletes to the countries that they represent in the Games, but no other situations have engendered the patriotism debate like this one. The Internet is filled with articles on this item. Just do a Google search and you'll get all the details.

This is the case of a good player with no collegiate or pro pedigree like most of the members of the US National team. She's not even asked to tryout for the team. So when she takes her game to Russia, for $2 large, and they offer her a spot on their Olympic team, all of a sudden she's Benedict Arnold. And when the US beats Russia in a semi-final game, several US players go out of their way to further paint Hammon in a bad light. Including star Lisa Leslie who won't even slap hands or acknowledge Hammon in the post-game line-up. What a crock.

The Hammon story has a reasonably happy ending: the Russians won the third place game, so she goes home with a bronze medal. Good for her.

And speaking of Nationalism, patriotism, and the Olympics, if this is a celebration of athletics in the world community, why do we go through the ritual of a national anthem for each medal ceremony?

The late night talk shows have been in hiatus or reruns during the Olympics. Do they get two more weeks of vacation for the conventions? For NBC which spent buckets of money for the broadcast rights to the Games, showing table tennis rather than Leno is probably justified. On the other hand, the bean-counters at CBS probably did the math and determined that the the marginal benefit of new material in the face of Olympics coverage didn't justify the production costs. Is that reality TV or what? And for the financial analyst in the crowd, is it a case of micro or macro econ?

Is Bob Costas the new Dick Clark of anti-aging fame?

From here, I'm headed to Lowe's to buy a dehumidifier for my basement. I think I've got so much mold down there that full correction may not be possible. It wasn't so bad until this Summer. I'm wondering about the incubation/gestation/reproduction period/cycle of common household mold. Actually, not really.

So hope everyone has a great day. Thanks for reading.

And lest anyone forget, it was originally my bed.

BCOT

Friday

Here's an unusual recognition for 1 as Daughter of the Day for the second time this week. She landed a long-term sub job earlier today which is certainly not her dream job, but is a great first step forward. Way to go, Kiddo!

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The computer conversion is basically done, and it seems that most of the bugs have been erradicated. We'll see after a few days just how many are still left in the electronic woodwork.

Does it seem like the Olympics have been going on for a month, or what? Then again, I'm not all that anxious to face two weeks of saturation coverage of the political conventions beginning this weekend either. Of course, that second convention might have trouble making it on to the front pages or evening newscasts.

We have the Amman, Jordan branch of the clan now in the readership. They are obviously desperate for entertainment in the mid-East.

Nice little move in the market today. Favorable words from 3's BFF Warren Buffet gave rise to a higher opening, and then Bernanke's comments mid-morning were not so damning to take the air out of the balloon. Still lots of issues out there with the credit markets, so don't go betting the rent money on a big push upward next week. Look for more ups and downs as the housing inventory sorts itself out. Over the next year or so. Ugh.

The U of Iowa's football coach was considered one of the worst economic investments in some review of college coaches' salaries published last week. The guy makes $3 large per year, and the team has played .500 ball the last three years. They don't get lots of blue-chip players in IC, and they have a small problem keeping team members off the police reports. They open this year against the powerful Maine Black Bears (who happen to include on their schedule this year such opponets as Stoney Brook, Iona and Monmouth). Brats in the parking lot may be the order of the day every Saturday.

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The Cubs continue to draw 40,000+ for every home game. That's a lot of Old Style.

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So again, congrats to 1.

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Have a great weekend.

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BCOT

Thursday

Computer conversion day. 'Nuff said.

BCOT

Wednesday

So this is 3's turn to shine. She is Daughter of the Day. Last week's pic has her current 'doo, but she's very pretty in pink too.

Sounds like her first couple of weeks in Boston have been good, but it will take some time to adjust to the new city and job. My guess is that she will come to enjoy the history and East Coast perspective that Boston has to offer. Not to mention the menu's in the local Italian restaurants. (There's also the small matter of the Notre Dame-Boston College football game on November 8th!) Be a star, Kiddo!

The small bonus photo of 3 and 4 would be a Tahoe pic on Uncle Phil's boat. Hard to believe that we are now at the two week anniversary of my ride up Mt. Rose. Time flies.

We are going through a major computer conversion today. New machines, new servers, new IT vendor. My guess is that there will be some short-term bumps in the road, but the long run has to be better than our current situation.

I see a small story on the wire that Jennifer Lopez is upset that Michael Phelps is stealing her headlines, given that she is training for a triathlon and all, just a few months after giving birth. Hollywood will have to stand in line to get any of Phelps' spot light. Too bad.

The big news in Des Moines is that NASCAR has awarded a Nationwide series race on August 1, 2009 to the new track in Newton. (Well, maybe the Shawn Johnson story is a little more newsworthy.) (4 always had a little problem with me saying that we were going to Adventureland in Des Moines, when we would normally stay in Newton.) I may have to make my first appearance at a NASCAR event for that race.

Hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Tuesday

Another great day in the QCA. But we're dry. Hard to believe after all the rain that we got earlier this Summer that we're now asking for a good shower. Feast or famine.

Here's to 1 as Daughter of the Day. She's hanging in there, dealing with a little professional challenge right now. Good news will be coming her way in the future. Keep those positive endorphins flowing!

I was reminded of her determination in reading about the US women eight's gold metal in the rowing competition in Beijing. Not that I would have wanted her to spend 10 years in the boat to get there. The sacrifices that those gals made, forever, is another of those stories of Olympic athletes giving up the rest of their current lives in order to train for success in their respective discipline.

My garden patch is producing some tomatoes, but they are very average. I'm thinking that the plants that I purchased at the farmer's market this year were of a lesser variety. The birds seem to like them. And maybe the rabbits. Next year, I moving the garden to another spot behind my garage where I have a little more space and there's better sun.

I made one upgrade on my bike when I had it tuned for the non-trip to Tahoe. I had become aware of several new features now available in cycling computers (including GPS), and I decided to get a wireless model that eliminates the need for a small cord from the wheel to the handlebars. Speed and distance are displayed on the computer based on a reading triggered by a magnet placed on the front wheel. It took me two rides before I figured out that the reading device on the front fork was placed a couples of millimeters too far away from the magnet on the front spoke. My speed and distance were less than I sensed, and I was thinking that the computer was defective. As is the case with most technology things in my world, it was actually a problem of operator error.

Busy day here.

BCOT

Monday

This is not in response to 4's comment on yesterday's blog, but there will be those who conclude otherwise.

I had actually been considering the timing on this recognition all of last week. Here's to 4 as Daughter of the Day for beginning her last year of college. While this is definitely an important year to her, it has been a year that Mom and I have been looking forward to for even longer. When 1 went off to St. Thomas in 1998, we had 16 college years to provide for in the higher education economic equation. Having the last of those years on the active roster is a big deal.

Our Internet connection at the office is down today. It went down Friday afternoon and I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a Qwest advisor going through the re-boot protocols. To no avail. And our IT contractor hasn't returned our calls. Welcome to Monday.

The Hy Vee meat department has been pulling a fast one on me all Summer, and I just figured it out yesterday. I have been buying 8 ounce steak filets for 2 for $8 for the grill. They're the right size and thickness for an almost always perfect meal. When I stopped in yesterday, they were marked 2 for $5 and I thought that I was really getting a deal. As the butcher pulled my request from the case, and I commented on the "deal", I also did the math and realized that the steaks were 5 ouncers rather than 8's. So the reality was/is that the price per ounce had not changed, but there was that initial perception that I was getting the "deal".

But even after I realized that I wasn't getting a "deal", it took me a little longer for the clouds to clear and for me to see that I was spending $8 per pound for the meat, regardless of the price per ounce! And I would never pay $8 per pound!!

More math later. Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

This is a visit to my old stomping grounds: Sunday AM at SB's. Some of the worst music ever.

Yesterday was a big day for 2. Moving day into her new house. We did a U-Haul truck for the morning and got all of her bigger stuff transported in a single trip. Now she has the challenge of making the new address her home. She is again, Daughter of the Day.

3 reports that Boston has been a good experience thus far. She did manage to get lost on the way back to her apartment one night, and there were a couple of relatively small things of damage from the movers, but so far, so good.

The Olympics have been all Michael Phelps. At least one national sports writer wrote the obligatory, "I Hope He's Clean" column, similar to those on Dara Torres last month. To an extent, I actually consider the column a bit of butt-covering, the equivalent of "short-selling" a popular growth stock in the face of a rising tide. With all the adulation pouring towards Phelps, a somewhat negative article will be largely dismissed. But if that small likelihood of a cloud were to later surface, this hack could lay his claim to the the "I told you so" insight of a brave Protector of Truth. Right.

I finally got back on the bike a couple of times, including 25 yesterday. I think Mt. Rose took a little more out of me than I had originally thought. Over the next month, my goal is to keep in the 100 miles per week range, and then shut it down for Turkey Trot training. The local bike club has an event in September where they set up a "century" course. For the more-committed, that's a 100 miles. For the less-anal, that being me, a metric century is the order of the day. My pal Pete will pull me home.

There was another local cyclist killed last week on a ride on the Illinois side. A 61 year old physician out on a mid-morning training ride. There has been no toxicology report on the driver, who left the scene, not that it matters. Nationally, there are always similar stories. Sometimes there is some road-rage from the driver, sometimes poor choices by the rider. Golf commentator David Feherty transports his bike each week on the PGA Tour, and he's been hit twice this year. Usually, bikers don't come out real well in run-ins with cars.

Shocking to see that the Irish aren't in any of the pre-season college football rankings.

My experience with the airlines, and the Incline Village Bike Shop, last week pretty well convinced me that when 2 and I make our trip to Italy next year that I'll be renting a bike when I get there rather than trying to transport my own. The cost of shipping is a big impediment, although these costs can vary dramatically from airline to airline, and there are different rules for international travel compared to domestic travel. (Delta wanted $175 each way to get my bike to Reno. My 5-day Tahoe rental was $171.) Who knows what the rules will be a year from now.

I had actually prepped my own bike to take to Tahoe on United (@$100 each way), but the flight cancellations convinced me that chancing the timely arrival was not my best choice. And the bike I rented was just fine. And I didn't have to struggle with the big transport container for the bike, another big negative for travel in Italy.

Probably the best thing about the Olympics is the overshadowing of US politics and such other critical news such as Britney and Brangelina. I suspect that most of the wags have been using the break to scour their thesauruses for new superlatives for Barack.

So I'm off to seize the day. Have a great one.

BCOT

Wednesday

These pics are not from Hot August Nights in Reno last week. But they could have been. Margret is not a show car, but she still draws interest. 2 and I saw a Margret clone in convertible format at the auction. For a minute, I was tempted to get into the mix. Fortunately, the bidding got into five figures which took away my interest. Like I needed another car.

My body has yet to recover from the trip. From the time I got the 1AM Friday morning automated phone call on the cancellation of our flight, I have been one groove short of matching the regular/expected response ratio. Just plain off. I didn't think that it was a sleep thing, but maybe that's it. Last night I was staring at the ceiling at midnight.

Lots of news in all forms of media on the Olympics. I haven't got the bug. I find the time difference disconcerting. I've never been a fan of tape-delayed broadcasts, even if its a round of weekend golf on network TV. Some of the NBC televised evening events are coincidentally live as they are actually taking place the following morning in China.

It is interesting to read some of the stories of the men and women who compete in obscure sports that you never hear about, even in the box score pages of USA Today. They work years and years on skills that receive publicity only on this quadrennial basis. Whatever it takes.

The three commercial outlets in Incline Village that we most-frequently visit on our Tahoe vacations, SB's, 7-11, and Raley's grocery, are examples of ventures that could fail only if management made a concerted effort to do so. I suppose that they could run into problems if they lost contact with decent employees, but with their locations, and the lack of competition, even poor service might not hurt the bottom line all that bad. That SB's has to be a gold mine.

Knock on wood, but I think that I fixed an electrical problem on Margret that no less than three maintenance shops either failed to address or diagnose. My brake lights were staying on after I had driven the car around town for several errands. The problem only appeared after the brake fluid had heated up and the switch on the master brake cylinder wouldn't perform it's auto-shut-off function. My neighbor Jim and I figured out it was the switch last night, and I replaced it tonight. Shockingly, the local Autozone Parts store had the replacement switch. For good measure, the wrench I used to make the fix was an old pipe wrench from the farm. I mean, Margret is from 1964!

This last photo today of Sand Harbor in the distance was taken from the scenic overlook above Incline Village right after we took the family pics. What great stories those rocks hold!

1 and 3 need to share their digital photos. I'm hopeful that one of the family pics on those cameras is a little better than my copies. (Uncle Phil's photography skills may need work.)

OK. This is a good first step back at the blog. More tomorrow.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Monday

Tahoe pics.