Monday

I'm in the middle of a two-hour session on fixed-income securities. No wonder 3 didn't want to work Municipals for Goldman.

I'm pretty sure that I've never been in Disney's Contemporary Resort before today. This is the hotel where the monorail actually goes through the main building. If you click the second pic, you can see the train arriving to the hotel.

The convention facility is off to the side of the hotel. I'm sure that the business model was to have a large convention hall to attract organizations whose members would see the destination as an opportunity to mix business with family. The time we brought the girls down here, I had a conference at one of the other Disney hotels. SRH took the girls to the theme parks while I was in session.

The one observation that I can make generally, is that the structures here are showing some age. The hotel row coming down to Disney City from the Lake Buena Vista exit on I-4 has changed little in the 20-odd years that it has been that I first came here. The properties were always a bit understated, and now with the paint fading and the stone walkways cracked or smoothed from use, I'd say that there's a need in the long term plan for some upgrades. My guess is that the kids don't mind any of this.

(I initially thought that my hotel up in Lake Buena Vista, a Holiday Inn, was a bit run down. In relation to what I have seen today, maybe it's just showing the same age as everything else around here.)

I successfully blew passed the first toll booth coming on the Florida Turnpike yesterday coming out of the airport. Not consciously, but I mis-interpreted the over-head signs for the up-coming exit, toll booth and open-road electronic lanes. I ended up in the e-toll lanes as I was trying to avoid the exit. I suppose that I'll get a "greeting" from Hertz in a month or two. Any estimates on the cost of a missed $0.75 toll?

And the grocery store at the entry to the Disney Hotels road was/is real evidence of opportunity pricing. My guess is that they basically take normal retail and add between 50-100% for anything costing less than $5. The cheapest fruit was oranges at $2.99 per pound. Ouch!

I saw a few T-shirt stores and I will be stopping to find a deal on four Extra-Larges for $10. With patches as necessary.

More later.

BCOT

Sunday

This entry comes from the Sunshine State. At least the weather is more Florida-like than the 40's when my pal Bill was here last week.

Travel was fairly uneventful. I elected to not check a bag, and that usually makes things a little less variable. (I was called out by security for too big of a tooth paste tube in my dop bag.) Hertz's counter is off site so in addition to the monorail ride from the arrival gate to the terminal, there was the shuttle ride from the terminal to Hertz. I'm not over-confident of finding Hertz on the return trip.

And I am considering paying the fee to join the Hertz Priority Club. Showing up and taking any car without going to the counter is appealing to me. (I've gone to Hertz exclusively now on the advice of my insurance agent who says that State Farm and Hertz honor each other's contracts.)

Auntie 2 is all smiles with 1.01 on Saturday morning. 1.01 is a good baby. With more clothes than all of the aunties! It will be fun to watch her grow.

4 was the big winner at her company's holiday party held last night in Lincoln. Her name was drawn for the 42" big screen TV! Suite. I'm sure will get details later.

I get back home Wednesday afternoon. My RCL is due in Wednesday afternoon as well. According to my math, I've been gone more days than I've been home since her last visit. Does that mean that she'll have to work harder to find the dirt?

I did some math on my 2009 schedule, and I computed that I was away from home 35+ days, probably twice my usual total. Then again, those 10 days in Italia don't occur every year! But since I consider last year one of my best years in years, maybe I need to spend a little more time away from the norm.

Uncle Phil noted that 1.01 just missed being born on the anniversary of GP H's passing, 1/12/94. He's been gone like 16 years. A lot of water under the bridge since then.

All for tonight. Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Friday

1.01 as of Friday AM. (More to come from 1 when they get home later today.)

Age: 48 hours!

Thursday

She probably should have been given the distinction yesterday, but LtPC was a little slow on the draw. Here's to 1.01 as Grand Daughter of the Day! You 'da girl, Girl!

Wednesday

Clan expansion!

Peyton Lynne. 7.3 lbs. 21 inches.

1.01 on 4KDays.

Monday

I'm not even going to bore the peanut gallery with the details of the return home odyssey. Suffice it to say, air travel remains one of my least favorite activities. The good part is that I did get home on time and with luggage.

3 and 4 earn Daughters of the Day honors with their belated birthday posting on their blog. It was a big hit with the honoree. Thanks to the authors!

The trip to Italy just keeps on giving. I got an unanticipated greeting from Hertz today with a $45 speeding ticket from Turin included. I know exactly where the trap was set. It was clearly posted. And I thought that I was always complying. There's no details on the billing notice other than the date and the location. I'm wondering if it might not just be a money grab assessed against any (and maybe every) car rental.

Big news from Big Mac in StL. I'm guessing that this announcement was planned at the time that he was named the Cardinals' hitting coach a few weeks ago. The next step will be a full press conference at the start of Spring Training, with open questioning for as long as it takes. With Pujols, Holliday and others on his six. Then it will be left to the media hacks to forgive and forget, or try to hang him out as something toxic. What does it prove to put him in a pillory in the town square for ever and a day?

I see where they are canceling Leno and moving him back to his old slot for 30 minutes each night. Can't really opine on this one as I've never watched his primetime show. I'm taking the "over" though on the bet that somewhere, someone is somehow blaming this one on George Bush too.

Hard to believe, but the peloton fires up for real for 2010 next week in the Tour Down Under in Australia. Lance is on the Team Radio Shack squad that is scheduled to take the line. He'll just ride a supporting role there as they'll be looking for some stage wins for their sprinters.

I won't even mention the countdown to Daytona. (Although I may investigate the "gadgets" inventory to hang one on here some where.) I guess I mentioned it. Sorry.

Go0d luck to 1 and 1.1. Keep the Focus between the ditches, 2.

BCOT

Saturday

Beautiful day on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk. They use this course for a PGA event in the Fall, and you'd best come with your "A" game. I played like a hack, but with 70+ degrees and sunny, what's to complain about?

This is a post-round photo of our foursome, minus the earlier-leaver, Calvinator. Notice the hot rental vehicle. Hertz did me no favors on looks, but it was/is brand new and drives pretty nice. Just a little small for four bigger guys. Not exactly Escalade-quality.

The Home Page pic is a shot off one of the tee boxes. I spent a lot of time out there today.

Italian dinner at a nice spot across the parking lot in a little while. We ate there last year. Some nice Tuscan reds on their list. Early to bed for a travel day back to the Arctic tomorrow.

BCOT

Friday

Dinner at Don & Charlie's in Scottsdale. Great meal, and tons of sports memorabilia.

BCOT

Thursday

The 19th hole at Grayhawk. My pal Roy next to me, Bobby D, and then my pal Cal.

After an o345 wake-up in Denver, we made it into PHX and our clubs caught up with us by mid-morning. We made it for a 1221 tee time. Very cool.

A gratuitous pic of our accommodating server Sam who put up with us old folks. A little out of focus, but Roy was on the other side of the camera.

Troon North golf on Friday.

More from the road later.

BCOT

Wednesday II

Just a few lines this evening from the Moline Airport. We are in a delay for our flight to Denver. They think that we'll get out, but we may miss our connection to PHX. They've already booked us on an early flight out of Denver tomorrow morning. What could go wrong?

We're still without email at work. The equipment people didn't properly coordinate with the phone line people and when some lines were swapped over from the old provider to the new provider, there was the small matter of our DSL line being left in the scrap heap. The effort today to re-establish the connection was large, but unsuccessful. Of course, it was all nobody's fault.

I ended up staying at the Orange Bowl party last night to the happy ending. That made early spin class a bit of a challenge, but I made it, and the personal training session that followed. It was truly a case of "bad shrimp", but there was a bit of "the morning after" slows.

I had a few texts from my pal Pete last night from the game. He said that it was almost like an Iowa home game. He flew back to C-town this afternoon and is now driving to Bettendorf. I hope he beats the snow.

In other good news, I got a call in the middle of the game last night from my RCL who was/is back in town. She wanted to know if I wanted here to clean today or wait two more weeks (since she knew that the substitute had been through just last week). I opted for current service. And I actually saw her this afternoon when I stopped to garage the Taurus and pick up my bags. She thought Mountainman was cool, but maybe a little too big for my place. I, of course, disagreed.

It looks like we might be boarding. I'll add more later.

BCOT

Wednesday

Great game for the Hawkeyes. Congrats to 3 and 4 for the success of their alma mater!!

BCOT

Monday

Still in the Deep Freeze here. It got above zero today, but not much. Really glad to get the Taurus in the garage.

TCU - Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on the tube as I make this entry. Does anyone care? (That same question probably applies to the Orange Bowl tomorrow night. Sorry, Hawkeye fans.)

BTW, it may be useful information to know that the Air Force Academy and Navy both won their bowl games with the triple-option running offense that they both learned from the Georgia Tech coach when he was at Navy. Iowa had better score 30 points or more if they expect to win.

Speaking of football saturation, SportsCenter, and every other sports highlights show, can't play the Wes Welker knee-injury play often enough. Welker is the New England Patriots slot receiver who made a cut while catching a pass yesterday and tore the ACL and MCL in the same leg. Not pretty. I've not been able to watch replays of knee injuries for years. And the video producers seem to think that 14 angles on what can be a career-ender is must-see-TV.

Switching gears...

I've been impressed within the last week with at least three commercial enterprises who have reached out through technology and wished me happy birthday. Starbucks in snail mail was a lay-up as their new Preferred Customer program includes a free birthday beverage. A Gap email greeting with a 25% discount code for an online or in-store purchase in January was a bit of a surprise. But the most unusual was an electronic "Happy Birthday" greeting on the Wells Fargo ATM screen when I had to stop by for some cash over the weekend.

Lots of sales-oriented businesses have had computerized client relationship systems for years. How many birthday cards have you received from your insurance agent(car/homeowner/life) or investment professional? Even the salesman that sold you your car probably has you on a follow-up program. (Remember those little oil-change post cards?) I just find it interesting that designers have made in-roads in the wireless age to new ways to reach customers.

The new phone system at the office is still a work-in-process. I did learn today that I need to hang my wireless ear piece on it's cradle when not in use to keep it charged. Similar to the wireless mouse on my laptop (except that the mouse's power source is not rechargeably-connectable to the computer). Neither of those two words are words.

It's a little scary, but I have to start packing for Scottsdale tonight. One day is plenty for normal clothes, etc., but the golf equipment complicates the one-day, one-hour schedule. One positive for this year's trip...I know where my clubs are. Shoes, balls, and ancillary equipment will require a further search.

What's the deal with the apple falling from the vine on the Google home page today?

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Saturday

The Deep Freeze has set in for a few days. Bitter cold this AM, and it never really warmed up much during the day. It looks like it may not get much better in these days before Scottsdale.
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Spin class this morning was an hour and a half. A very solid challenge. And then I had another hour with my personal trainer. The gym was pretty busy with New Year's resolution folks.
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A major accomplishment today was moving Margret from my garage over to SRH's extra spot so that I could get the Taurus under cover. I hadn't fired Margret up for several weeks, so I figured it was 50-50 to get her going. But after a little initial resistance, she caught on and it was an uneventful trip to her Winter home. See you in March, baby!
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I did a little Winnie sitting this afternoon. What does that say about the excitement in my life? She's pretty used to the routine at my place and did her business outside like a big girl. She seems to like the outdoors. I'm wondering how her breed is generally regarded for cold weather.
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I have the Iowa-Minnesota bball game on as I write this entry. Not only are the Hawks down big early, there's nobody in the stands. I said that the over-under for their conference win total was five, but that makes the under a heavy bet.
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My pal Pete left today for the Orange Bowl. My pal Roy left this AM (flying private) for a few days at his condo in Vero Beach before our Scottsdale trip. Makes a guy feel a little cold and lonely. It will be interesting to see how many Iowa fans turn up in Miami. The report I saw had 45K in Tempe for the 'Clones' Insight.com Bowl at 74K capacity Sun Devil Stadium. Which seems like an over-flow crowd compared to some of the near-empty houses at several of those earlier no-name bowl games.
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The one thing that has been notable in these bowl games is that coaches seem more inclined to take chances to get the W rather than playing it safe for a tie or to continue an overtime. The Idaho guy went for a two point conversion and the win (and was successful) with just a couple of seconds to go in the game rather than kicking the PAT and going to OT. The Northwestern guy tried a trick play and lost rather than test his second string kicker in OT. And lots of plays deep in the playbook come up for air throughout the games. It makes things more interesting.
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All for tonight. I'm scheduled for SB's in the AM. I'm sure that I'll be enlightened.
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BCOT

Friday

Happy New Year!!

The 2010 edition of 4KDays will start tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday

Not sure I understand the math on these bowl games with no-name teams playing in front of 30K fans. Are the broadcast rights that good? What's the over-under for the Clones?

Had the substitute RCL yesterday. I know that she doesn't do quite as good of a job, but just getting the primary dusting and vacuuming done keeps the place from being an embarrassment.

Had a client come up with what I thought was an off-the-wall factoid this week as we began the application process for some new insurance. We had applied last year for a different policy and his health examination came back with extremely high cholesterol and we elected to not take the rated policy that was offered by the carrier. He had been on and off statin medication in the past.

Anyway, he found out recently that his daily consumption of grapefruit juice had negated the medical impact of the drug. He happened to be in my office Tuesday telling this story, at a time when my pal Pete was also there, and Pete said, "Oh yeah. My prescription has an avoid-grapefruit-products precaution on the label". And he showed us the bottle with that label.

I always thought that the source of my good health was my diet, heavy with veggies such as tomatoes, and various fruits, specifically grapefruit items. Who would have thunk that such things could work against a person?

Hope everyone enjoys a fun and safe New Year's Eve. A real good night to...

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a few lines today.

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The excitement in the office today is the kick-off of our new phone system. The desk units are in place and operational. Now the users have to figure out how it all works. At this point, the old precaution, "Be careful what you wish for; you may get it", is probably applicable. I even missed the training session yesterday, so I'm really out of the loop.
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After the markets closed, I flipped the TV to ESPN to catch whatever bowl game happened to be on. I was lucky enough (?) to see the start of the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl from Boise, Idaho. We could research a little about Roady's, but I have no interest. (Isn't a "roady" also known as a drink for the road?) The main claim to fame of the game is the blue carpet on the field. The first time I watch a TV game from that stadium, I spent 10 minutes trying to get the color on my set to adjust to the right colors. Who knew that the field was blue?

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And lastly, I was in a discussion yesterday with a friend about just who qualified as a good comedian in the movies these days. We struggled to name one. I can't stand Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler, and what can you say about Charlie "the mugger" Sheen, even before his latest escapade? (Is he nuts or what?) Slim pickens in my opinion.

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I'm off to Muscatine tonight to have a pre-New Year's Eve cocktail with friends.

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BCOT

Monday

This has always been a funny week. You have a little bit of the Christmas hangover, and the knowledge that you have a short week before the New Year's holiday. And we always have some client business that needs to be closed before the 31st. Makes for some interesting times.

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My Perfect Neighbor had snow-blowed my sidewalk and driveway by the time I pulled in from the TC last night. It looked like we had 4-5 inches here, compared to the 10-12 that they had up North. It is Winter.

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The traffic on I-80 last night in the stretch from Iowa City to Davenport was your typical holiday crush. The rudest drivers were the ones who pounded down the right lane when the left lane was stacked up waiting for a semi to make a pass or otherwise get over to the right lane, and then the jerk darts over into the left lane when he/she catches up to the slower vehicle in the right lane. I can see where Homer or Jethro might get a serious case of road rage if they were cut in on once too often.
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The Remington (Mountainman for the uninformed) is at home on the table behind my couch. Perfect. This ranks in the top five of All-Time-Best-Christmas-Presents, and will enjoy a similar ranking come my birthday, and Father's Day. (It certainly wins the Most Expensive category.) It might have a two-year run. (This may depend on whether 3 finds a good job in NYC in 2010.) For the record, the rider's name is "Johnson", and the horse's name is "Pilgrim". It was a bit ironic that the movie Jeremiah Johnson was on the AMC channel last night. The moon and stars continue in good alignment for LtPC.

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Almost forgot. Special recognition to 1 and 1.1 for their great work in hosting their first FFF at Christmas time. While we think that we are an easy crew to please, it's always a little more work than the guests may think, so "Here, Here!" to the folks on Woodduck. (And 1.1 did score some pretty fair tickets to the Wolve's game. Duh!)
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Still working on the blog math for the baby. I'm leaning toward 1.01.
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Does anyone care about the bowl games to date? I mean, what's not to like about the Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl? And we're not even half way home.
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I've got to admit that my experience in the fruit section at the grocery store lately has been a bit hit-and-miss. Had great oranges last week, high grade Granny Smith apples right before the trip North, and passable Texas grapefruit before that. The latest batch of oranges was something less than perfect. Dry almost. But I'm optimistic that the next batch will raise the bar.
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I've got to hit the hay. Another training session at seven bells. Think I'll do some treadmill before meeting the trainer. I hate to admit it, but I almost like the three miles I do these days. And I hate running.

BCOT

Sunday

Travel day. Successful for all. Great FFF memories.

Back to the Real World tomorrow. Short, but busy week for me.

BCOT

Saturday

Target Center - Minneapolis - December 26, 2009 - Wolves win!!

Friday

Merry Christmas to all!!!

4 made it to the TC this AM. Almost on time.

Still opening gifts. Lots of desserts yet to address. A slice of home made apple pie by 3 may be in my future.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Birthday to 4!!!

Lobbyl time for LtPC. Not doing the manicure with the rest of the fam. Maybe a walk with Winnie later.

Staying at a relatively new Sheraton just a mile or so from 1 and 1.1's place. Suite. Don't see a bowl of oranges and apples, but there is a Starbuck's coffee station. Really nice fitness room. Wi-fi throughout, plus a nice Business Center (with printer). Overall, a solid Four Stars on my hit parade.

Best wishes to all.

BCOT

Wednesday

Happy Tax Birthday to 4! You are Daughter of the Day. Didn't get this up as timely as I should have, but it's been quite the day.

We decided to make the trip to the TC a day early, and the normal 5-6 hour excursion became 8.5 hours of pure Winter conditions. They're talking big numbers for snow here for the weekend.

Research in Motion had some software problems yesterday and Blackberry users were off-line for a while. I was having some problems today on the road. I'm wondering if it was weather issues for me.

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Tuesday

The weather forecast remains iffy from now through Friday, so the local contingent is starting out tomorrow for the TC rather than waiting until Thursday. That at least gives us two days to get there if the roads turn ugly.

The morning workout with the trainer was a success. I have lots of upside. Another session early tomorrow after spin.

I'm thinking of giving a few sessions with my trainer to my pal Roy as my Christmas present to him. I'll have to pass the idea by our pal Cal (the surgeon) to make sure that it would fit into a fitness program suitable for Roy.

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A gift for Roy is appropriate since he dropped off a package for me today...a cashmere scarf from Burberry. I'll be wearing it regularly. It goes well with my European gentleman's bag.
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The NASCAR fans in the peanut gallery are cheering the naming of Jimmy Johnson as the Associated Press's Male Athlete of the Year. If the AP says, it's true, who can argue?
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And 4 can give props to Husker Nation for the appropriate distinction given to Ndamukong Suh as the AP's College Football Player of the Year. He may have won the award in the UT game where he made the Longhorn's offensive line look like shredded cheese.
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The wine for the now extended weekend will be the Murphy Goode Cabernet. The label says that it is a wine that packs a punch, exhibiting flavors of blackberry, cherry, bay and thyme with an oak profile of vanilla and toasted nuts. What's not to like?

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All for tonight. A little business meeting to attend, and then I need to pack. My equilibrium is a bit off with the earlier departure time.

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More tomorrow from the road. Safe travels to all.

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BCOT

Monday

Hello and Good-bye to the Winter Solstice. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere. Literally caused by the angle of the dangle. Of the earth's north-south axis as it rotates about the sun. From a biker's perspective, we certainly like those longer days come Summer time. Interesting that the progression is not exactly linear, or that the sunset or sunrise times hit their lows (or highs) on the same day. (Wikipedia can explain. I checked out even before I wrote that sentence.)

I always knew it as the First Day of Winter. Isn't a solstice the bread-and-milk treatment for a boil? Oops. That would be poultice. Sorry, Margret.

Anybody who thinks that the abomination known as Obamacare shortly to be passed by the Senate is anything but a pork-laden, back-room-tradin', tax-raisin', poor-excuse-for-governin' piece of crap, has sipped way too much of the Hope-n-Change koolaid. Not that I have any opinion on the matter.

Had my first oranges tonight. They had several different batches out at the store, at sale prices, which suggested to me that the crop must be in. They were pretty good. Much easier to peel than the Texas grapefruit that I had sampled each of the last few days. Love that great fruit. (As opposed to just grapefruit...Bah-da-bing!)

What about Public Service Announcements (PSA's) on radio? Who pays, and what's required of stations? If anything? The local FOX Sports station has a ton of PSA's on everyday. Almost at every commercial break. Either 1) they are very committed to the community, 2) they are required by law to air a certain number on a daily or weekly basis, 3) they get paid to air them, or 4) they have an overabundance of un-sold air time and they're filling space. My guess is that it's 4. Maybe our 4 can educate us.

First round with my personal trainer in the AM at 0700. Think I'll do the treadmill first. Meeting tomorrow night so the blog may suffer.

For the folks out there praying for us sinners, add the weather to this week's requests. The trip North looks a little sketchy for Thursday.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

No reason for not getting a decent post up today, but it just didn't happen.

2 had a little fender-bender just a couple of blocks from her house when some new snow slickened-up Locust Street and she missed her turn, then a following car couldn't avoid her's and banged into her rear end. Not much damage to the Focus, but the other car will be $1000+. A little Chevy HHR that looks like a PT Cruiser. Now a crunched-up HHR. (Does an easily crunch-able car constitute a lemon?) The good news is no tickets for either driver.

Actually, I had been reminded yesterday about how bad the City of Davenport takes care of it's side streets in the Winter when I went by 2's place to pick up Winnie for the afternoon. They just don't plow anything off the main drags, so all of the snow gets mashed down and the streets are nothing but ice. Put a little new snow on that hard-pack and all you get is trouble. It becomes impossible to stop. And the alley's are worse. Hang in there, Kiddo.

I actually did some shopping today. Not much, but a little. World's collide!!

Treadmill at Gold's this afternoon for 45 minutes. Wish that also meant five miles. Not! Early spin tomorrow.

I guess creativity doesn't come on Sunday either. Then again, it is, Biblically speaking, a day of rest.

Have a great week of Christmas preparations. Looking forward to these next few days.

BCOT

Saturday

Tough one-hour spin class this AM with my new favorite spin-Nazi, Kandi. Then a late morning and afternoon hangin' with Winnie. Which included a 20 minute romp in the Bettendorf dog park, and a two mile run/walk after a nap. She did pretty good in the dog park, playing around with several other dogs, all of varying sizes, but all quite a bit bigger than her. A return visit for sure.

So all the trash magazines and Entertainment Weekly media shows are releasing their Top Ten's of the decade. Same for the sports shows. My first problem is with the math. If it's the 9th year of the decade, is the 0 year understood as the first year of the decade? If that's the case, when we're celebrating a kid's ninth birthday, is it really his/her tenth? Frankly, I think that the whole problem is driven by the math-challenged left-wing liberal press.

I think that the person on top of almost every list, whatever the category, will be Cheetah Woods. (h/t to Revkev.) The guy has a variety of skills, and definitely the notoriety. Or maybe he's just notorious.

I heard on the radio this week an advertisement for a franchise-like deal for individual investors to own their own Redbox-like movie rental machines. The concept is for the investor to buy the machine and the movies (I guess), and then make a profit on the rentals. This is the kind of deal where the only person with the possibility of making any money is the guy selling the franchise rights and the hardware. I don't know what the entry fee is (or the use fees payable to the studios), but the buyer will likely never recover the original investment.

I remember a couple of clients from the early '80's who bought individual pay-telephone machines. At like $10K a pop. What could go wrong? I'm not saying that these kiosk things will go that same route, but I'd take the under.

A movie that I certainly refuse to consider for FFF is It's Complicated. Not only does the cast include at least three of my least-favorite thespians, the concept of middle-age sex farces is about as anti-erotic as it gets. Didn't they figure that out with Something's Gotta Give? I prefer Charlie's Angels or any of the Bond girls in my fantasies (Drew Barrymore, not withstanding).

In preparation for the Scottsdale golf trip, I have re-engaged my Gold's personal trainer for a few sessions before my January 6th departure. I have been entirely unsuccessful in getting myself started again on her exercise regimen, so I'm biting the bullet and paying for forced motivation.

Glad to see the Cub's dump Milton Bradley. He was a cancer on the team, and he didn't hit. Not hitting was the biggest problem. (Of course, even if he had hit, the team was so bad last year that they wouldn't have won enough to displace StL.) The window for the core of their current squad may be closing. And if they don't win in '10, Lou will be toast. (Any Grapefruit League plans for the TC crew this year?)

All for now. Headed out to raise heck in the QCA.

BCOT

Friday

Very low key Friday for me. After outings both Wednesday and Thursday nights, my system had little capacity for Tuscan red. Actually, maybe that wine that I had with our Christmas lunch today down at the Woodfire Grill put me over the edge. (This is the old Centro with no re-modeling. Decent wine list, but not much Tuscan to choose from in my price range. The selected alternative was a Malbec from Australia.)

I found out last night that my pal Pete is headed to Florida in early January for the Iowa game. It's a bit of a family thing as at least two of the boys and his brother from Hotlanta are going as well. Son Brett still has a lot of Hawkeye in his blood from those two years on the bball team. The Orange Bowl could be a nice respite from the Winter (if the good Hawks show up!)

Has the schedule for the FFF movie been set? Movie determined?

Maybe a spin class in the AM. Also plan to run Winnie for at least a couple of miles.

Hope 3 survives the storm in the forecast for the East coast. She's supposed to go to the Boston Pops tomorrow night. Very cool.

More thoughts on the season this weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Tax-Week B-day to 4!

My pal Pete had a small office party tonight at a Davenport spot and the star of the party was "Single N". (You have to understand that Pete had, and still has, two legal assistants named Diane and Dianne. Do the math.) Single N was assigned to do my secretarial needs when I sub-rented from Pete's law firm in the early '80's. She was a star, able to do things on an IBM Selectric Magcard machine that normal steno's only dreamed of. She continued to work for Pete full time until the early 2000's, and had done part-time stuff through earlier this year.

The bad news is that she had a stroke last Summer and has lost most of her ability to speak, and has only limited use of her right arm. She says, "Piece of Cake" as her response to almost every question or comment directed her way. Or "s--t" when she just can't get any other words out. It was a lot of fun to see her out, and even though it is sad to see struggle with the small things, the reality is that she is doing well with what she has. Her situation reminds me a little of Daddy in his last few months. Single N was a VIP in my life in those early days of my business. Tonight reminded me that she still is.

There was a story on the wires today that the last bookstore in Laredo, Texas has closed. It was significant because Laredo became the largest town in the country without a bookstore. I really didn't read the particulars, but the economics of a bookstore are not good. Not with Amazon.com, Wally World, and all the other big boxes selling everything at deep discounts. Why invest in the bricks and mortar? Plus, the socio-economic make-up of the local population can limit interest in the intellectual pastimes. Maybe Aunt Martha has a solution.

On a very strained tangerine comparative...uh, make that a tangential comparative, what about the Salvation Army kettle business? These guys are dying an increasingly slow death. How do you get them to gather revenue from the plastic society? They're ring bells in front of Walgreen's, the grocery store and the mall. For nickels and dimes. They need another shtick.

Glad tomorrow is TGIF. Looking forward to the weekend. I mean, I really want to go Christmas shopping.

BCOT

Wednesday

1 is being a bit testy in evaluating my travel schedule, maybe, eh? Then again, I have to admit that when I finally registered for the program, I knew that I would be subject to some second-guessing. January 17 -20. Just don't go running around the block that week!

Early spin today. Not an easy choice with the cold temperatures. But I'm headed down to Muskie for dinner tonight, and I needed the workout. Big turn-out for the class, including a guy who has been there a couple of times now who swaps out the peddles on the bike for his own!!! He comes in with the wrench to do it! And his cadence is like three times mine. In race pace, he's a blur. I'm thinking that he belongs at a higher-skilled class. If not, it's a good act.

The new teeth are good, but feel a little strange. I elected to do a one-week trial before he cements them in for the duration. Sitting in the chair for the installation, followed by x-rays and cleaning brought back the not-so-good memories of the long sittings for braces in middle school (including the pulling of four teeth), and the various efforts to establish a good cosmetic solution to the front teeth from college through my late thirties. I have paid the dentist well in my time.

Maybe more later. Or not.

BCOT-

Tuesday

Cold! Cold! Cold!

I go to the dentist first thing tomorrow to finalize the replacement of my top front teeth bridge. The preliminary work was done right after Thanksgiving, and I have had a temporary appliance in for the last couple of weeks. Not cheap and not pain-free. But I needed an upgrade, and the insurance coverage required a before-year-end transaction. The new pearly-whites will be on full display in the TC in 10 days.

I registered for a conference in Orlando in late January. The early-registration discount ended today and I finally convinced myself to make the commitment. Don't really like Florida. Orlando in particular. Way too much congestion and way too many kids. And I've stayed away for several years. But the conference is timely and the travel costs are reasonable. Warm weather in January covers several negatives.

Here's a little quiz: When it comes to current events, politics, world affairs and Big Business, who do you believe? The politicians on either side of the aisle are a joke. Network newsers? Below awful. Cable? Spare me. NPR and the NYT? Com'on. FOX and MSNBC? Shut 'em down. Is there anyone out there reporting (or making) the news without an agenda?

Still working on Plan B for my Christmas shopping. 2 has volunteered to help.

Any wine orders for FFF in the TC?

I'll try for more creativity tomorrow.

BCOT

Monday

A bit of a funny day. Early spin. Then Monday stuff. After work, an attorney friend from C-town came in for dinner and drinks. He has some meetings in town tomorrow. We did the high end for pre-meal cocktails at Biaggi's, but finished with ribs at the old Kelly's Bar by St. Ambrose. Very cool.

I had lunch with my pal Roy today (at the new Kelly's on 53rd Street), and made the prediction that Iowa wouldn't win five games in the conference this year, and would win zero conference games on the road. That's a pretty rough future for the Hawks. This situation at the same time that former coach Steve Alford's New Mexico team is undefeated and in the Top Twenty-five this week. Ouch.

Paul Samuelson died yesterday at age 94. His Economics 101 text was used by colleges throughout the country. It was the standard at ND. The book was frequently revised and the joke was that the questions stayed the same, they just had to change the answers. So you had to buy the new revision rather than last year's edition. The money machine worked back then too.

Another birthday noted in the news recently was that of country music singer (and newly crowned CMA Entertainer of the Year) Taylor Swift. She turned 20. I have found that her work, while appealing to the younger set, is a bit uninspiring to me. Her high school angst at lost love rings a little hollow to a guy with Sometimers.

On the subject of Christmas cards, I remember sending a few to adult friends in my USAF years. These would have been the parents of high school or college friends. Specifically, I remember writing on the cards as a personalized greeting, the quote from the song White Christmas: "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmas's be white." I mean how lame was that? And the recipients were probably saying, thanks LtPC, but, uh, we really have no need for snow. Duh!

OK. To bed.

BCOT

Sunday

Calm before the storm. Weather headed back into the deep freeze in the next couple of days.

High praise to the extended family for the picture Christmas cards that I have received in the last few days. In particular, the KC full-family pic is a keeper. Newsflash in response; no such USPC seasonal greetings scheduled from LtPC.

If a running back deserved the Heisman, the guy from Stanford shoulda got it. Maybe if ND had been something more than a laughing stock when he had the big game against them a couple of writers would have re-directed their votes. (We let sports writers determine the best college football player? And these are the guys that know how to fix the BCS?)

How cool is it that the TV channels (all of them, really) set up showings of the NFL games in the war zones for the deployed GI's? They keep giving some live look-ins from Iraq of some Minnesota National Guard troops right now watching the Vikings-Bengals game. Similar to the effort that I noted here last Summer of David Feherty on the PGA tour. Hat tip to all.

My RCL left me a Christmas gift last week (as it was her last time here until mid-January). She's headed back to Milan, Italy to visit family. I told her that I wanted her to take the extra $20 I left for her to enjoy an extra bottle of vino while there. OK, a bottle. I didn't say how expensive of a bottle! Anyway, her gift to me was a box of four Pinot Noir glasses. Like the one here to the left. I think she's smart enough to know the other glasses that I have and wanted to expand/diversify my inventory.

My best wine glasses are Cabernet glasses like the one here to the right. Which makes sense as I current favorite wine is the Cabernet. But when home, I usually drink out of some very blue-collar, heavy-duty, stemless highball glasses.

I make this somewhat elongated description to give the necessary background to a contention by the owner of The Grape Life that the tastes of the different varieties of wine are best delivered if consumed out of the proper glasses. I'm a doubter, but I think I'll conduct some detailed experiments over the next year or so. I've got the glasses.

The same wine (semi) expert used an aerator to pour from a freshly uncorked bottle when I was in the shop last week. A new experience for me. The concept is to simulate decanting, to allow the wine to "breathe" before drinking. (We decant at Biaggi's if it's one of those nights where there are lots of people and multiple bottles of wine.) I might be a believer in this one, but more research is required. (I might be able to double-up on the glasses experiment noted above.)

Augie got throttled last night down at Wash U in StL. They're rated #1 in DIII (and are the two-time defender National champs). With Gonzaga and WashU now behind us, we'll see if this young team can find some traction against less-august competition.

I did talk with the Commissioner last week and the 2010 Clan Bash is set for the weekend of July 9-11. No formal proceedings are scheduled at this point, and no hall rental is anticipated. The Commish's house will be Reunion HQ. Details will emerge. LtPC and family will likely target dates in the 8th - 18th to capture two weekends.

So I'm out to get a couple of things done. Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Saurday

Just a few lines in some extra time before my client meeting in Waterloo.

It's been a busy week for me. And for Tiger and Brian Kelly. My guess is that Tiger will stay in the weeds for several months. Maybe not even play in The Masters, which would be a huge statement. Once he comes back, and if he wins a few tournaments, he will crawl back up the respectability pole. If he doesn't win, his legacy will be the girl friends. At least they were mostly hotties.

I think Kelly will be successful at ND. He has a college coaching pedigree and he has shown that he can win. I hope he has a a good defensive coordinator in mind.

There's been more snow up in this area. They said that the Iowa basketball team had to stay over night here after their game with UNI earlier in this week. Still lots of cars and trucks in the ditches. (Had to bring the Buick out of the garage for the trip. I'll rinse her down once I get back home.)

I had a "Letter to the Editor" published in today's local paper. I had written a short critique of a small headline article that they had run in Monday morning's Sports Section that featured a very sexy color picture of Blake Lively (who was the SNL host on Saturday). My position was that the paper had jumped at the opportunity to run some skin that had no direct bearing on the topic. It wasn't even a picture from the SNL spoof, just one of her stock fashion photos. This is the paper that I have always said would run a photo of "Man bites Dog" everyday on page one if they had the photo.

Take Navy and give the points.

Got to head to my meeting. More later.

BCOT

Wednesday

So Winter has arrived. They are predicting blowing and drifting this afternoon and below zero temps tonight.

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Augustana plays Gonzaga tonight. The game is supposed to be televised on Direct TV channel 687 (which is a Fox Sports regional station). Anything less than a 25 point loss will be a victory.

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The Turkey Trotters may be interested to know that the post-race photo at SB's is up on the website, www.criteriumfinancial.com. I know the company 's owner.

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We'll probably end up closing early today. Since I did 0545 spin this morning, I'll be able to add some more here before the game starts.

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For those of you dealing with the weather,...

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B-particularly-COT

Sunday III

A pretty good result. The BCS did okay for the Hawks.

BCOT

Sunday II

A message from 4 in Lincoln: The back yard in June, and the backyard today. Hello December!

Another afternoon with Winnie. 2 had business at the museum. The spin class this AM was hard, but I still did almost three with W this afternoon. Walking (mostly). She has a lot of energy.

(My pal Pete has joined Gold's for the Winter so that he can join in the spin classes. Today was his first one. While he has ridden the programmable bikes at the fitness center, this was his first time in a class. He was impressed, and not by just the female talent in the group.)

Thanks to SRH for some work today to clean the carpet from the spill at FFF last week. Pretty well erased, but there is probably a professional cleaning contract for the full upstairs in my future.

Another entry later to opine on the BCS selections.

BCOT

No Christmas lights, but I did get the electric extension cord run from the garage to the front of my house. If the snow holds off, I may get the strands up before the actual holiday.

Sunday

Winnie and I did three miles yesterday. After she took a hunk out of my wrist while putting on her harness. This is a pic off of my phone which I sent over to my Yahoo email. Wirelessly. With both the phone and laptop on just battery power. Amazing.

Spin in a while and then finally getting my carpet shampooed after the plant-dumping accident from the FFF event last week. Maybe even throwing up a couple of strands of Christmas lights later. (Or not.) And firing up the snowblower for possible use later this week. A busy day.

Another race angle in the Tiger saga that never occurred to me was a concern expressed in a story today that his flings all involved white women. There are now rules for politically correctness in extra-curricular activities?

The local fishwrap (like all papers, I suppose) is about triple the size of ordinary times with all the ads included for the holiday shoppers. It has to help the papers' economics since there's no real increase in news content, just volume from the inserts. Their real prize is when they charged the $2 Sunday price for the Thanksgiving paper which had nothing but ads in between about three news stories of turkey receipes. You gotta make hay while the sun shines.

Speaking of economics. At the wine shop that we visited last night (The Grape Life), we bought a bottle and drank it there. It's one of those places that is set up to buy and go, or to taste and drink there. You could bring in your own sandwiches for lunch or dinner too. Kind of low-end wines. None that I saw for as much as $30.

So anyway, we buy one of their more expensive Cabernets for $27. With a $7 corking fee. The staff pours the wine. OK. So when we settle up to leave, I pay with a couple of twenties and tell the gal(who I know is the owner) to keep the change. Did the owner just triple dip? Profit in the wine purchase. Corking fee. Tip. It's a little like tipping the owner of a hair salon. What's the proper protocol? Miss Manners, where are you?

More later.

BCOT

Saturday

Saturday at SB's.

Does it mean that you are a "Regular of Influence" when the store manager comes over and asks if it's ok if they move the soft chairs a little further into the store to facilitate customer traffic? Not saying that our group has pull, but then again, we certainly have more seniority than any of the baristas.

There's a little Winnie in my future today. 2 has a full day of class, so I'm taking my favorite Carin terrier on my run after lunch. I'm waiting until the temp gets above 30 before I take off.

This morning's local paper had a story about the period section of town called the Village of East Davenport's annual Christmas Walk last night. That's when many of the stores have live displays in their windows of people in historical dress performing holiday-type activities from that era. I always take a small amount of humor in the event from my participation in it years ago. When our group was a fixture at the front table in the McClellan Stockade on Friday nights, we stepped up to perform as the town party-ers for the touring crowds. It was an easy act.

More here later. Off to pick up Winnie.

BCOT

Friday

Second day of Tax School 2009. Day 2 is almost as exciting as Day 1. (I did take a pass on the first two hours on Ethics this AM. Spin at Gold's was the optional activity.)

The temperature high today will be below freezing for the first time this season. This will drive those averages down.

I admit to being a little curious about the ND coaching search. There's been lots written by lots of hacks/pundits/experts, and, given the Seinfeld Rules of the Internet (any opinion needs no verification/authentication), it's hard to measure at this point. I do like the guy from UConn, and not much for the guys from Cincy and Wisconsin. We've already had a failure from Stanford.

Hard to ignore the news on Tiger. It will die down, I think, but he will remain a talk-show punch line for a long time. Can you say Hugh Grant? The best term I have heard to describe his actions is reckless. Check out the cover of next month's Golf Digest. They say timing is everything. My guess is that such a generalization belongs on yesterday's list of no-longer-truisms.

Speaking of gratuitous accusations of racism, how long do you think it would take Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson/the Political Black Caucus/The Huffington Post and a host of others to play the race card if the guy holding the club in the photo happened to be a Caucasian banker from Goldman Sachs?

It looks like Iowa is battling Penn State for an at-large BCS bid. It's a beauty contest since the Hawks won the face-to-face meeting. Does the aura of Joe Pa outshine the traveling herd of bumble bees? Expected TV ratings as determined by the BCS bowl folks will carry the day. And the conventional wisdom is that PSU has a bigger national following than Iowa. With the Hawks being uniformly described by national media as a combination of lucky and from a weak conference, the Capital One Bowl looks likely to me.

I think I've had enough education for today. TGIF is calling.

Have a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Coming to you today from a continuing education conference. At least I'm not wasting my time doing crossword puzzles. This particular one is being held in a big meeting room at the iWireless Center in Moline. They have a pretty good room for this kind of thing (I'm guessing 250+ are here), except for some bearing columns that obscure some sight lines. The material is less than inspiring.

I did Twitter last night in recognition of my first 2009 Christmas party. My pal Cal was host for his office (and guests) at the club in Muskie. Good time had by all.

The Group of Four from last January in Scottsdale (Roy, Cal, Bobby D and LtPC) is scheduled to make a return visit next month from the 6th to the 10th. Three rounds at desert courses. It's not about the golf.

I guess it's fair to say that Tiger didn't get the Big O pass from the media. Several lessons here:

1. If you want to mess around, it's best to stay away from reality TV wannabees.
2. Rule 1 also applies to club girls, club hostesses and other similar socialites.
3. Text messages do not automatically erase.
4. Rule 3 also applies to recorded messages.
5. TMZ and their ilk will out anyone or anything.
6. Money always matters.
7. Very few good things happen after midnight.
8. Some things in Vegas don't stay in Vegas.
9. Going Viral on the Internet is now defined.
10.Below radar, invisible and other such terms are no longer relevant.

We've had a substantial downturn in temps here today. Lows are forcasted for the teens the next couple of nights. Snow flurries when I was out for lunch. It is December. Margret may be done for the year.

All for now. More later.

BCOT