Sunday

Well, that was quite a day for the fam.  I'll add some more during the next few days, but this is just notice that the blog is back "up".

I'm thinking that the wedding-reception MAY make the Top Ten list of best family parties...ever.  Good-bye Herky.  Hello 3.1!

Tahoe continues to amaze visitors with it's beauty.  For flat-lander's, the mountains make such a statement for the power of Mother Nature.  The lake is simply awesome.  Every pic can be a postcard. 

My pal Pete and I are planning to ride the Mt. Rose ascent from Reno in the AM.  I have my reservations about holding him back, but, it should be just a matter of time.  I know that I'm strong enough to get to the top.  I did the short side to the summit on Thursday on Revkev's bike which did not have a "granny" gear for the aged.  The bikes that we will rent tomorrow will definitely have the lower gearing.

I'm not that curious about the Olympic Games now being broadcast on the tube.  The fact that the events are mostly replays from earlier-in-the-day competitions across the pond leave me unimpressed.  If you can get the results on the Internet, why spend the time watching some human fish make waves in the pool?  And with NBC's multi-politically-correct-culturalism permeating every nanosecond of airtime, don't look for much Olympic coverage here.

That ride up Mt. Rose will give me plenty of thinkin' time tomorrow.  Look for more here after  we're done.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the weekend!

BCOT

Thursday

Yeah, so I didn't get back to the post yesterday.  Sorry about that.  I thought that since we didn't have Fit Club last night that I would have the time to jump back on to the computer after dinner.  But 2 and I did a stop at the mall after work to check out wedding ties, and then I went over to the Palmer Hills golf range by my house to hit balls for the better part of an hour before dark.  (Gotta keep workin' on that handicap!)  Add in a bit of a queezie stomach, and my late evening motivation was in the tank.

The Tour today is spending the last day in the mountains in Southern France.  The last hill is shrouded in fog.  It doesn't look like the Yellow Jersey has any challengers.  Unless he falls off his bike, he'll waltz into Paris this weekend without ever having had to go much into his reserves.  The rest of the peloton needs better drugs.  (Sorry, Lance.)

The British Open is also in play this AM on the four letter network.  John Deere champ Zach Johnson has a nice first round in the books.

The early ride today was one of those when calling in sick might have been the better choice.  That stomach bug yesterday left me a bit of an energy deficit this AM and I was hard-pressed on the hills.  @bcbison is getting stronger and I'm regressing. 

RAGBRAI starts Sunday in Western Iowa.  With this heat, it's gonna be a tough one this year.  If you are camping, those 75 degree nights are about as uncomfortable as it gets.  Plus that slow leak in the air-mattress?  I'm at the point where I'll enjoy that action much more so when it comes out on video.

This also Happy Tax Anniversary day to 1 and 1.1.  Hard to believe that we have been through five years since that great week up in the TC.  I'm thinking that the proximity of their anniversary and 3 and Herky's Big Day next week will give me a remote chance of remembering both of these special days in the future.

I'm not sure how solid of an indicator this might be, but Northpark Mall was all but deserted when 2 and I were there last night.  This economy is rocky.  If its 100 degrees outside, I'd think that the mall would be a popular location.  Glad I'm not a retailer these days.

OK.  No guarantees, we do have Fit Club tonight, but maybe more later.

BCOT

Wednesday

I'm making 4 the Daughter of the Day today in recognition that she made it over two of the climbs that are on today's Stage 16 of the TdF.  The Tourmalet and the Col de Aspin.  Interestingly, last year's winner, Cadel Evans, who is sitting several minutes behind this year's leader, cracked on the ascent up the Aspin, which is not really that brutal of a climb.  Of course, I had to stop and rest numerous times on the same stretch!

Most of these Pyreneean peaks are at lower elevations than the Alpine summits.  We had to deal with cows, goats, and alpacas wandering across the roads.  And their droppings!  But its kind of neat to recognize the backgrounds in the TV camera shots.  The ski town near the top of the Tourmalet, La Mongie, remains a vivid memory for me.

I meant to comment on the TdF stage last weekend when there was an incident of sabotage(?) when some yet-to-be-identified idiot scattered tacks on the road and about 30 riders (including the aforementioned defending winner Evans) were flatted on a descent.  One guy crashed and separated his shoulder, requiring him to withdraw from the race.  I'm guessing that criminal charges would be in order if they could find the perpetrator.

Frank Schleck, a Radioshack rider, has been pulled from the TdF for testing positive for an unapproved diuretic.  This is not that big of a deal, but several media sources have lead with a headline of, "Former Armstrong Team Rider Tests Positive", even though Lance has been off the team for two years.  The bias/sensationalism in the media knows no bounds.

I've also noticed for the first time a steady diet of pro-Obama/anti-Romney pop-ups on the CBS and ESPN websites.  I am so over the political ads.  (I was fortunate to have missed the "Kiss Cam" ruckus at the last USA Olympic basketball exhibition game.)

I'll add more to this later.  No cycling or Fit Club today.  I wanted to get this up to recognize 4.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

So Iowa native Zack Johnson of Cedar Rapids came from a few shots off the pace today and won the John Deere Classic.  He has been a favorite of the local crowds over the years, and if Stricker couldn't pull out a fourth straight win, then I'm sure Zack's trip to the winner's circle is a popular result. 

20 Under (my prediction early last week) was the score that put Zack and another guy into a sudden death play-off.  Both managed to double-bogey (ouch!) the first extra hole, forcing a second one.  Johnson proceeded to hit an All-World shot out of a fairway bunker almost 200 yards from the hole to less than a foot from the pin.  The other guy missed from 20+ feet, so Zack won the trophy...and the cash!  Good story.

A noteworthy factoid from the golf tournament:  the John Deere Classic has the distinction of being the top tournament on the PGA schedule for generating the most charitable contributions to the host community.  A professional acquaintance of mine started the concept 10-15 years ago of "Birdies for Charity" that has become a template for other tournaments to raise funds for local not-for-profit organizations.

In other golf news, my effort to get to a 12 handicap yet this Summer is making progress.  I'm officially down to a 17.  My rounds yesterday and today (83 and 84) may be good enough to take the handy down one more notch.  (My net betting results with my pals may actually have been positive for the weekend as well.  Bonus!)  If I get in another good score before Tahoe, it will definitely be a 16.  And I'll only get the chance to play once this week.

The downside of two rounds of golf over the weekend is a stiff back.  Fit Club has definitely helped my flexibility, but I don't think that I'll ever do consecutive days real well.  Another negative...no bike ride up to the Sunrise Cafe this morning.  That really cuts into my target mileage for the week.  Bummer.

2 had her last big party before Tahoe at The Figge on Friday night.  The museum is hosting an exhibition on NASA art for the next couple of months and they had a kick-off party for members on Friday.  In deference to her wishes, I won't publish he pic in Star Trek uniform.  Beam her up, Scotty!

My goal this week is to knock out a few Tahoe planning items each day.  The reality is that once I get my wedding suit and my bike stuff packed, almost everything else is buy-able at Target.  But I do need to have the office reasonably under control so that I can head-off any major issues that aren't solvable over the phone or by email.  The IRS comes to mind.  While clients are almost all on the Internet, the IRS doesn't accept correspondence by email.  Those open cases on my docket need a two-week-hiatus-notice sent to the affected agents.  If you tell them in advance that you won't be on the grid for a couple of weeks, it's almost never a problem.
 

To get the Tahoe march underway, let's make 3 Daughter of the Day.  I think that @srh4 has a few more of these picked out for the reception.  This is one of my fav's.  Good luck with your last week of prep in The Big Apple, Kiddo!

My previously announced 60 month plan is officially my 57-month plan as of today.

Good luck to all for a successful week.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Friday

Friggatriskaidekaphobia!

So here is my obligatory Friday the thirteenth visual.  I tend not to be that superstitious, but then again, I don't ignore these things either.  I wonder what they call fear of stepping on the foul-lines when going to and from your position between innings in baseball? 

My basement memory-wall where I have hung my prior year calendars reveals that the days this year fall exactly on the same numbered days as 2007...when we had a Friday the 13th of July also.

(For history buffs, it is worth noting that we are celebrating this week the two-year anniversary of the last Tahoe family reunion.  Actually, the reunion picnic was on Saturday the 10th.  We spent that following week developing our "hanging out" skills.)

I was pretty impressed with the turn-around time on my new glasses at Vision-4-Less.  There was no eye-exam involved as my prescription  from last year was capturing my needs.  So all I had to do was get a sales clerk to wait on me, pick out the new frames and write a check.  That all happened inside of 20 minutes.  My prescription must not be all that unusual, because the clerk went to the stock room and pulled the lenses as part of her work.

Their protocol included an elective text-message notification to me upon their completion.  I was just concerned about getting the new glasses within a few days.  The text came within 90 minutes!  Fit Club precluded a pick-up last night, and my first attempt this AM was a bust due to a line, but I stopped on my way to lunch and was outta there in five minutes.

The one element of the process that was just a little difficult to swallow was the additional $25/pair that they charge for the non-scratch surface treatment.  My experience over the years has been that my usage will definitely scratch the lenses, so I always get this coverage.  But I gotta believe that the marginal cost for the in-store lab to apply this treatment is near-zero.  The add-on has to be a big profit number for the store.  Kinda like extended-warranties at Best Buy.

The Penn State report was pretty specifically damning.  Will the school (or the NCAA?) do anything? USA Today columnist Christine Brennan has a piece today calling for a one-year shut-down of football at the school.  Usually, I think she's a predictable lib-talker with little to say, but she has a point on this one.  What's worse:  the act or the cover-up?  One thing is certain:  the lawyers will be making money for a decade off of the cases that are sure to come. 

Hope the Peanut Gallery has a good weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Is there a media organization more self-aggrandizing than ESPN?  I mean, what's the value of an ESPY award other than more face-time on the network?  Except for the visuals of some attractive athletes strutting their stuff on a red-carpet (Jenny Finch?), this is an event that has the same amount of meaning as a Joe Biden appearance.

Here's a couple of pic's from last weekend that 1 posted to Walgreen's Photo.  I left my camera in Woodbury and these are from that memory card.  The kids are growing fast!

The John Deere Classic is off and running.  The leader of the morning group finished at 7-under.  Which suggests that the 20-under estimate from my earlier post may not be enough.  The weekend scores tend to be less outrageous as the PGA puts pins in less-friendly positions on the greens.  Even so, the boys had better go low if they expect to be in the hunt.

More later.

BCOT

Tuesday

Really not much to offer today. 

I did pick up my suits from the Jos. A. Banks store at Northpark Mall yesterday.  I didn't even try them on at the store since I knew that if further tailoring was required, I would not be trusting it to them to get it done by our departure date for Tahoe.  Once I got home last night, I tried on each of the pants and, surprisingly, they all fit.  (I had declined the minor tweaking that the tailor had mentioned for the jackets, so their only task had been to make sure that the jackets that I had purchased actually made it to me with the pants.  They covered that bet, thankfully.)

The tailoring was not done at the store.  I had called in last week on the day that I had been promised, and the response had been that they had not received their UPS delivery yet that day.  (They did call me on Friday to let me know that the suits had been delivered.)  So I'm not sure what the seamstress's job is in the store.  Emergency work?  I know that she's not there full time.  Do the sales people not know how to mark-up a suit? 

My confidence level for that store (and their whole chain-wide business model) is not high.  Each cuff, let-out and crease has a separate additional cost.  Rather than a zippered suit-bag, I walked out with the suits covered by the thin plastic sheeting like you get from the dry-cleaners over your shirts.  And the ordering and cashiering were all structured in a way that whoever was ringing things up always needed to ask for help from others.  I felt like I needed to take a shower after the experience.  And I keep seeing their ads on the morning news for "600% Off" of everything (maybe an exaggeration!), and wonder if my 3-for-1 was just not that good of a deal.

Whatever.  Bottom line is that I have my suit for #07282012.  Plus two others for use at dress-up affairs that I have previously had little flexibility to meet the minimum dress code.  (And for the record, I'm taking the Under on the possibility of any future suit purchases in my lifetime.)

My pal Bill and his family spent last week down at Lake of the Ozarks.  He said that one of his temperature gauges registered 110 on Friday.  Wow!  That's Phoenix-eque.

Thanks for reading.  Maybe an update after Fit Club.

BCOT

Monday

The world has been moving pretty fast for me again.  That holiday in the middle of the week last week made the schedule discombobulated for lots of folks.  Then I left at noon on Friday for Harvest Path.  I'm still trying to get back to neutral.

Here's a nice pic of the Dornies right before I took off for Iowa yesterday morning.  1.01 was little annoyed after our muffin at the coffee shop.  1.02 wants his share of everything.  1.1's days of refereeing are actually just getting started.

I hope that I'm not getting ahead of the curve, but there seems to be some relief from the heat in our current and forecasted weather.  Most of the charts have our highs in the mid 80's most of the next week, with nighttime lows in the mid-to-upper 60's.  My pal Ron said that the temp for golf on Saturday in Muskie was 104!  Anyway, the Sand Harbor shot for the Home Page is timely.  Less than two weeks to Tahoe!

The PGA event is here in the Quad Cities this weekend.  The John Deere Classic.  The course is a relatively new TPC venue called Deere Run carved out of the hills of a Deere family farm on the Illinois side running along the Rock River.  I've played it a few times.  Hard for the Average Joe, but the pro's eat it for lunch.  Look for the winner to be 18-20 under par.  Steve Stricker will be trying to win it for the fourth time in a row.  That's almost Tiger-esque.  I've turned down tickets from several sources.  I don't like to fight the crowds to drink $7 beers.

(Speaking of deer running, @bcbison hit the brakes hard one morning last week while we were cooking down a hill on the early morning ride when a deer jumped out from the brush to cross the road in front of us.  I was lucky to have been just far enough off his wheel to see him slow and react accordingly.  The deer was startled too, and high-tailed it back to the woods.  We see deer about 1/3 of the time on the early ride and/or the DeWitt ride.  They probably need to thin the local herd.)

In the world of sports-drug news, 1) a NASCAR driver for Penske Racing (AJ Allmendinger) was suspended shortly before Saturday night's race after a positive drug test earlier in the week. Hmmm.  NASCAR doesn't mess around with this stuff.  So Dinger could be done for the year, if not longer if he elects to have the "B" sample tested and it too is positive.  2) Lance's lawyer's tried a BS move this AM that a Texas judge immediately tossed out this afternoon as BS.  He be in trouble, folks.  And 3) US soccer goaly (and DWTS veteran) Hope Solo tested positive for a banned substance...and got a minor slap on the wrists.

We just had a nice shower here at the office.  And my car (the Buick) windows were open.  Suite.  (More rain like this will push the winning score at the golf tourney South of -20.) 

This could be our first rain-out of Fit Club!

MLB's Home Run Derby is tonight as part of the All Star game in KC.  Can't say that I have much interest.  Same goes for the game tomorrow night.  I mean, I just don't follow the game enough to identify the players.  The game is meaningless.  And the commissioner's decision a few years ago to give the home field advantage to the winner of this game is as bad as the DH.  Not that I'm an Old School guy or anything.

I'm struggling a bit without an administrative assistant here at work.  Doing a UPS envelope is an exercise for me.  Funny that someone who has been around the block as many times as I have has to go back to grade school to literally get things out the door.  Good thing that Summer is a naturally slow time of year.  It ain't gonna be easy.

Rain is done.  May catch up here a little late on.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Wednesday

Happy 4th of July to my many followers!  I pulled out my old flag to hang on my house as well as raising Old Glory on the new flag pole.  We are very patriotic on Maplecrest!

I think that I am passing on the regular holiday cookout, and going instead with the salad from the refrigerator.  They keep saying everyday that tomorrow will be hotter.  And they have 100 in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.  As you can see from the gauge right out my kitchen window, triple digits is not much of a leap.

I elected to golf this AM, largely because I was due for a rest day from cycling.  Geneva has an informal "regular" game on Saturday's at 0800, and they usually do that game on Summer holidays too, like today.  Since my normal playing partners were otherwise occupied today, I figured that the "regular" game was my best bet.  You just show up, put your ball in a hat, the balls are thrown, and teams are set.  I hadn't played much with the guys on my team, but they were all good guys.

Each player puts $11 in a pot.  I really don't know how all parts of the bet are played, but the teams compete for low net and low gross on both the front and back nines.  (Net being your score with handicap deducted, gross being without handicap.)  Then there's also a "skins" game in which a player can earn a payoff if he has the lowest score on a hole among all the players.  This is done on both a net and gross basis too.

We won a couple of bucks as a team on the back side, and my net eagle on the 18th hole (three for a two) won a few dollars in the net skins game.  But my natural birdie on 18 (three for three) turned out to be the only birdie of the day on that hole, and there was only one other hole where only one guy birdied.  So the two of us split the gross skins pot of $90, meaning I won $45!  Totally unexpected, but well-earned.  The 18th is a tough 400-yard hole, and I followed a decent drive with an outstanding 3-iron that left the ball maybe four feet below the cup.  It wasn't a "gimme" putt either.

Sorry for being a bit wordy about golf there, but it was a pretty fun day, even shooting 89!

I'm going to recognize 2 as Daughter of the Day for hanging in there at the Figge for the Red, White and Boom event last night.  She always does a great job steering these kind of programs for the museum, and doesn't always get the recognition that she deserves.  Not that I am biased or anything.  You 'da girl, Kiddo!

Lots of crashes in The Tour this week.  At least three pretty good riders are hanging in there with casts on their wrists.  (LBH...anybody riding in the Tour is a pretty good rider!)  Rule #1 is definitely in play. 

I don't think that I noted here last week's news that my pal Erin Andrews is leaving ESPN for a new gig at FOX Sports.  I don't think that this was much of a surprise to anyone.  She may have gotten (a word?) a little too big for her britches for ESPN, especially since her DWTS appearance where she received all that non-sports publicity.  Money mattered too, I'm sure.

Her biggest problem may have been that she just got too old for the college boys.  I mean, her hay-day was the CWS a few years back when all those guys probably thought that they actually had a shot!  Whatever.

I didn't even know that FOX did college football.  I may have to watch this Fall.  Do they do the Directional U league?

Enjoy the remaider of the holiday.  Thank a soldier.  They deserve it.

BCOT

Tuesday

Still in the heat wave here in River City.  They're projecting the high 90's today.

Here's a preliminary recognition to Old Glory on her Tax Birthday!

We have enjoyed the visit of 4 from NYC.  She heads back this afternoon.  I'm making her Daughter of the Day for taking the detour to the QCA after the bachelorette weekend in the Windy City.  Great to see you, Kiddo!

The Tour de France is underway.  Today was actually the fourth day of racing.  They started this year in Belgium and finally hit Northwest France today.  Lance remains a sideshow to the Tour, even though he hasn't raced there for 2-3 years.  The US Anti-doping folks have brought charges against him, and others, in hopes of proving something.  I lean toward, "Let's move on, people. This might have been news 10 years ago, but now it just sounds like a spite hunt."  And I'm not that much of a Lance fan.

My weekend with The W went OK.  She remains a very needy girl, and she's got her own Summer allergies, but she has a lot of good points too.  The local critter population kept her attention any time that we were outside.  On Saturday night, she was stalking this bunny in my back yard.  This pic was taken with my iPhone and I couldn't get the rabbit in to clear focus, but The W definitely had her pegged.  What you can't see is that W is at the end of her yard leash!

I didn't remember that The Market closes at 1300 EST today.  Should be a slow afternoon here at the office.

Tiger's win on Sunday was a boon to the TV advertisers, and seems to verify that he is "back".  I mean, he's now won three times this year, which translates to a career for half the field in most tournaments.  But he still has his detractors, who basically say he's not back until he wins a major or two.  Again, I'm not that big of a Tiger fan, but that's a pretty high standard.

No big 4th of July plans.  Morning golf, I think.  Rest day from cycling.  My pal Pete and I have ridden each of the last three days, including that DeWitt breakfast run on Sunday, so I'm taking the day off.  2 has Red, White and Boom down on the riverfront tonight.  I try to stay away from the noise.

More later.

BCOT

Friday

The heat wave has made life outside here a bit uncomfortable.  The humidity has not been as bad, but Fit Club in the 90+ heat last night had us all drenched by the end of class.  More of the same in the forecast for the next few days.

I'm entering some uncharted territory here at the office.  I've elected to reduce staff by one full-time position effective end-of-business today.  My practice has become less paper-intensive over the years, and my list of tax returns has been pared-down to a much smaller number.  The basic need for a full-time administrative assistant has largely evaporated.  I'll need to handle more of the ministerial tasks myself, and the phone, and I'll need to find some part-time word-processing help.  But I like the idea of approaching my future with a more productivity-oriented stategy.  We'll see.

I've really been aggrevated by the play-list of the local country station this week.  Seems like every time I'm in the car they have Keith Urban or Rascal Flatts going.  Once something gets under your skin, its hard to ignore.

Lots of moving parts this week in the fam with the bachlorette party in C-town.  Safe travels to all. Be careful out there!  The W and I will keep a watch out on Twitter for reports.

Interesting that the Supreme Court's ruling on the healthcare law came down to one guy deciding not to reverse the work of the two chambers of the legislative branch.  With an interpretation (Its a tax!) that the bill's supporters spent months (years?) arguing that it was not.  So the Democrats win by raising taxes on lots of folks outside the 1%?  The spin doctors will be working overtime.

So I'm not sure if I was more disinterested yesterday in the Supreme Court ruling or on Ann Curry's departure at The Today Show.  Her inability to attract/keep viewers may say something about the public's appetitie for the drivel on which she chose to report.  (Okay.  I don't watch Today.  But that doesn't mean that I can't trash it.)

A story in the local fishwrap this AM related a story on the founder of our Happy Joe's pizza chain losing a vacation home in the Colorado forest fire this week.  He was quoted as saying that, "Anything that could burn, burned to ashes."  Mother Nature has a very unforgiving nature.  Of course, this had to have been Rush's fault in some way.

Actually, I do have a comment about the negative impact on a person's mental balance of the constant drumbeat of talk radio.  My pal Roy has satellite radio in all of his vehicles, even the golf cart.  Most of the time, he has it tuned to FOX News.  The gospel preached on that channel doesn't vary and the obscure nuances that get incessantly run to the ground could probably be used at Gitmo.  The Gospel according to MSNBC from the Left likely has the same, but opposite, effects.  Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts are even better than the political drone.

Hope everyone has a good TGIF.

BCOT

Tuesday

Testimony to my lack of interest in TV programming these days is the victory last night by Arizona in the College World Series.  The couple innings of that game that I watched were the first two innings of the entire tournament that I took the time to view.  The new stadium in Omaha looks like the real deal. 

I was in a discussion the other night with a friend and the topic drifted over to the future of currency in everyday usage.  Coinage and paper dollars.  I actually use more cash than many folks as I tend to pay for groceries and small personal/household items in cash.  At Hy Vee, it appears to me that a majority of the folks in front of me in line use a credit or debit card for their purchases.  That is also definitely the case at the gas station as well (where most people pay at the pump with a card).

Coffee shops heavily market their own credit cards or the use of "app's" on the cell phone display that can act like a credit card.  It seems obvious to me that it's just a matter of time before the technology and security for the use of an app on the cell phone will be a primary form of payment for goods and services at virtually all retail establishments.  Just like the credit card readers progressed from the old imprint device to the modern data-scanner, merchants will eventually migrate to an even more efficient reader system.

One of the by-products of the shrinking use of currency is the impact on people who have historically depended on cash receipts/donations.  I always wonder if the tip jar at the coffee shop will go away with the expansion of electronic payments.  And the homeless people in the cities who pepper the street corners.  The Salvation Army. 

Today was a weekend day two years ago and 2 and I were visiting 4 in Lincoln.

I have no more than a minor amount of interest in the discussions that have been in the news this week about the future of the college football championship package.  From what little I have read, the proposal now on the table is one with a four-team play-off, keeping the bowl structure somewhat in place, but taking the "top" teams to the the playoff scenario.  I'm guessing that it will take about one year to have the first controversy between that fourth and fifth team.

Let's face it.  Its all about the money. 

In a somewhat similar vein, the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Association has elected to add a fifth class to the divisions for playoff purposes.  Effectively, the State Tournament in girls' sports will now have a total of 40 teams getting "to state".  The local fishwrap had a long story in the Sunday edition about this expansion.  Some people were quoted as being concerned with the "watering down" of state-level accomplishments, and others agreed with the change as benefiting more kids.  I don't know.  While there is truth to the watering-down argument, when stories are told 30 and 40 years later about a team making it to state, I doubt that the first thought to the listener of that story will be, "Yeah, but really, how many teams were in the field?"

What the expansion does mean is that there will be at least eight more state tournament games for gate revenue, concessions, parking and miscellaneous other fees.  A case could be made here too that, its all about the money.

All for now.

BCOT

Sunday

Here is my second effort at a post with the iPad. It still doesn't "feel" quite right. I'm thinking that I need a tutorial for this Blogger iPad app.

The ride up to DeWitt this morning was a solo affair. My pal Pete is traveling this weekend so I had no drafting help. But there wasn't much wind, and I dodged most of the showers that came through the area. (Breakfast was below par: if it had been dinner at a nice restaurant, the meal would have gone back to the kitchen. But it's DeWitt...a small town cafe. Whatever.)

I'm thinking that Aunt Martha's birthday and wedding anniversary are both in this latter part of June. Best wishes to her and Uncle Doyle. Sorry my internal data-storage is no more exact than this.

For the critics out there, NASCAR is on a road course in California today where they do more than turn right. Actually, I find the road course tracks less appealing than the short tracks where the bump-n-run is a little more predictable. The #24 needs to step it up.

The headline in the local paper yesterday was about that funky bridge on the Mississippi at Sabula that I wrote about two weeks ago on the TOMRV weekend. They've reserved the money and will be replacing it in the next few years. Good choice. The question is, "Will they get a new one done in the time frame that will have me still on a bike?" I have low expectations for that type of project.

I struggled with the re-assembly of the electronics in my living room after the windows were installed. First, I couldn't figure out why the large monitor wouldn't fire up while the lap-top monitor to which it is married was doing just fine. Turns out that the laptop was running on battery power as the switch was "off" on the surge protector strip. Then it took several iterations to figure out the proper plug for the table lamp to be connected to the room's light switches. Sometimer's at work.

My latest "lost glasses" story: my tertiary (or maybe even fourth level) back-up sun glasses went missing when I was looking for them to do yard work a few days ago. These are glasses that I use for local biking and around my yard. They generally never get into a car and are always kept on the kitchen counter. I gave up and went with the Oakley's. I found the missing pair a couple days later when I was doing laundry, in the back pocket of a biking shirt...luckily, BEFORE putting the shirt into the washer!!

All for now. Make it a good Sunday. (And TGIF to 4 in NYC!)

BCOT





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Maplecrest

Friday...UPDATED

So the new windows are pretty much installed.  I think that my pal Ron has just a little touch-up work to do this AM.  From both the inside and the outside, they look like they have always been in place.  My next step is to decide on shades of some sort as that afternoon sun might be a little bright if it is not filtered.  Small problems.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.

With the passage of the 21st, we are officially into Summer.  The downside from a biker''s perspective?  That early sun now starts to go the other way time-wise.  Between now and our departure for Tahoe it shouldn't be much of a problem, but certainly by August when we return, take-off for the early ride will have to creep closer to 0600.  Bummer.  (Is that a half-empty-glass comment or what?!?!)

Really glad Lebron has his trophy.

The market took a good shot to the solar plexus yesterday.  Companies are making good money.  Many have lots of cash.  But the economy is walking through wet concrete.  Europe is in disarray.  Politics are politics.  Still thinking that "sell in May and go away" is the advice to follow this year.  The question is, do you go back in before the election?  Regardless of who wins, I think I'd bet today on a Santa Claus rally for November-December under the presumption that there will be some pent-up demand. 

Fitness Club is a success on Maplecrest.  Hearing of it, The Big Apple couldn't resist copying the concept this week.  Yoga-palooza in Times Square.  2 has flexibility that sometimes hurts to watch.  I, on the other hand, do my best exercise with the post-workout wine selection/pouring.

Hope the Peanut Gallery has a great TGIF.

UPDATE...

Ron did get the finishing touches done on the windows; screens, locks and cranks.  Really another small, but noteworthy improvement to my place.  When you don't have that much square-footage, the little things get noticed.  I'll probably pick-up a couple of spring-loaded rods this weekend to hang some blinds that will deflect the evening sun light.

I did a lunch-hour ride on a route proximate to the normal early ride, mostly to get credit for a workout today.  Poor timing on my part as traffic North of town was quite a bit heavier than what I expected.  In one stretch, I had three eighteen wheelers pass by, along with the normal allotment of farm service vehicles, construction trucks, and various crew-cabs.  And they had laid down a new dusting of sand on the packed-tar-and-gravel-chip road, creating Saharan conditions.  The dogs on the bike path would have been a better battlefield.

I noticed in my earlier posting that the spell-check function had substituted 'Booker's' for "biker's" in my second paragraph.  When Blogger does spell-check, it gives some options, including "ignore".  I must have hit one of the alternatives with my cursor when I meant to go for the "ignore" option.  How do they come up with  "booker's" in lieu of "biker's"?

@srh4 is playing the Grandma card on Harvest Path this weekend.  At the rate that 1.02 is progressing, how long will it be before a leash is not optional?

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Thursday

So I am formally putting this up this morning to recognize 4 as Daughter of the Day.  She received the anticipated offer yesterday from FOX News for full-time employment, converting her position from the temporary/contract employee as was her status up to this point.  This is a big deal.  Congratulations to her for going to the big table and elbowing her way into the game.  You 'da girl, Kiddo!

(And yes, that is the Guggenheim in Bilbao in the background of this pic.)

More later.

NOW LATER...

I noticed at 2nd coffee that Leroy Neiman passed away yesterday.  He was a popular artist who did a lot of sports and entertainment painting.  We have a couple of his sketches in our waiting room that were wedding gifts from my college buddy Joe in 1976.  Here are a couple of pics from the Internet of his work:  Nolan Ryan in his days with the Astros, and Churchill Downs.

The sketches from Joe were from an idea that he had from several years earlier when he lived in San Fran (working with Tahoe Phil at B of A) and I had stayed over for a few days on my way over to my Korea assignment with the USAF.  We had spent an afternoon in Sasalito and I had hovered over a Neiman baseball painting in one of the art shops.  I didn't have any money then of course, but I had been on the verge of dropping a couple of C-notes on that piece.  Joe never forgot.  I still enjoy them.

Even more, later.

BCOT

Wednesday

I taking a few minutes at the office to throw up some chat before heading down to Muskie for a late afternoon golf date with my pals Ron and Cal.  Wednesday afternoons in the Summer are not supposed to be spent in the office!

For those of you not on Twitter, here's the pic taken this AM of my pal Ron completing installation of the new windows in the West side of my house.  (I'll add a second pic later once he has the windows in and the siding back up.)  This was a little project that I had decided upon a year ago, and had purchased the Andersen windows at that time. But my hired man got caught up with RAGBRAI prep, then the ride itself, and then the school year.  He must need some spending money this year!  My goal is to get more light and cross-ventilation in my living room.

Another sign of my limitations:  the dress-shorts that I bought on my last 30%-off coupon at Kohl's were supposed to be Navy blue.  They looked that color in the store.  Wearing them today for the first time...and they're black.  (Not being racist, here.)Worse still, the only back pocket is on the right side...and I always carry my wallet and cash envelope in my left rear pocket.  Really a disconcerting dress day for LtPC.

My wedding suit (and the two others with the deal at Jos A. Bank) were measured for fitting yesterday.  There's a two-week estimate on completion.  The tailor was/is a nice Asian gal from Thailand, who was very apologetic for me having to make a second trip for the fitting.  My aggravation was soften by her demeanor.  Over/Under on them getting the waist correct?  Call me a skeptic, but I'm all over the Under.

Another disturbing thought:  red wine on the driveway (or on the deck after Fitness Club) just doesn't have the same appeal when its 90, humid and windy...as say a good cold beer or a rum/lemonade smoothie.  That really must mean that the weather is getting to me, eh?

More later from the road. 

BCOT

Monday

Wow!  It's a hot one out there.  92 or so on Maplecrest.

My unscheduled trip over to Des Moines today was for another funeral on my client list.  This was Dr. D's sister who had been fighting cancer for several years.  She was 75.  I have now attended the funerals of each parent and the daughter.  Dr. Doug is the sole survivor at this point, not counting kids and grandkids.  A bit of sobering history.

That early ride today was awful!!  I had no energy and really struggled up the hills.  I even let @bcbison take the exteme hill on his own and chose the flatter alternative route over to the junior high while he did the real work.  Funny how some days the tank is empty.

I'm giving 2 the designation as Daughter of the Day for dutifully carrying the water on Father's Day.  We enjoyed a nice cup of 2nd coffee after I got back from the DeWitt ride...and she and The Winniferous were my guests for din-din...NY steaks from the grill with salad-in-a-pot.  (3 makes an appearance too since this was my best option for a recent shot.  This one was taken last weekend after the BBQ lunch on Century Heights.  The bright orange tee was the shirt from TOMRV.)

(I do have some pics of 2 taken on the iPad at coffee, but I don't have the talent yet to either send them to my Yahoo account (since the iPad thinks IT is my Yahoo account), or use The Cloud.  This one was taken on my iPhone.  Not that good because of light in the background...and an unsteady hand of our recruited photog.)

Not that we need another countdown, but it is only 40 days until #07282012.

I see on the news tonight that the jury gave Roger Clemons a not-guilty verdict.  Hmmm.  I'm not sure what that means other than that the Justice Department keeps picking battles that it can't seem to win.  I've never been much of a fan of The Rocket, but I was pulling for him in this one.  It sounds like the DOJ case rested heavily on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a recognized liar.  What did all this cost the taxpayers?  Of course, don't expect the Hall of Fame to send him any greeting cards.   In the opinions of those voters, Clemons is guilty on all counts.

NBC's decision to make the PGA's U.S. Open broadcast last weekend a prime time affair left me a bit disinterested.  The final groups didn't finish until after 9PM Central time.  Sorry guys, but that's just too late to keep my attention to golf.  You know that they could have started the round at noon on the Left Coast and captured most of the regular viewers in the East and Midwest.  I wonder how the numbers ultimately flushed-out.

And a hat-tip to the #88 for the win in Michigan.  Again, not a big fan, but he's good for the sport, and he drives for The Good Guys.  The four Hendrick cars keep in the mix almost every week.  Unfortunately, there are really only about half the cars that start a race that actually have a chance to win.

Finally, Roy and I both commented that several of the golfers in the last groups had as many sponsor logos on their hats, shirts and bags as the NASCAR boys do on their cars.  Almost anything for a buck, eh?

Thanks for reading.  Have a good week.

BCOT

Sunday

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. It's a warm one here.

The DeWitt ride with my pal Pete this AM was a great start to the day. There was just a little wind out of the West that kept some of the segments interesting, but nothing to bad. Pete's draft is always a good place to be. Thanks, friend!

The Sunday crowd at Dunn's includes a number of families with young children. The parents seem to believe that loud kids are acceptable in this environment. I had to move to a further-away location. Is there something wrong with parents suggesting to their kids that they should use indoor voices?

More later from Maplecrest.

BCOT


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Okay. I just tried to add to the blog from the iPad from the original link that I had set up, without going to the Blogpress app. I'm not sure if that's just normal Sometimer's or worse. So the flag that I had posted from earlier was deleted. And now I need to go meet @bcbison for a beer at Gov's. And I won' get the flag back up until later. I'm not that bright.

First pic to the blog from the iPad. Taken just a few minutes ago on the deck at Gov's. Life is pretty good for the LtPC.




BCOT
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday

Really not a lot to add to the world's information data-base today.  Looks like another near-perfect day weather-wise here.  Golf in Muskie late this afternoon is a possibility.

I've named our small group personal training program Fitness Club (FC for future reference).  Our second meeting last night confirmed that I have no core strength.  That means that I have a lot of upside potential.  Instructor Jessi is headed out of town for the weekend and our next class is not until next Tuesday.  But I intend to spend a little time each evening doing some of the exercises that I actually can do so that I'll be better prepared for next week.  It's a humbling experience.

My choice to do an after-work ride on the bike path before the Monday night FC reminded me of a previous decision to not ride the bike path on weekday evenings.  The combination of kids, dogs and other amateurs is just too much for a meaningful workout.  I had to come out of my clips three times within a period of about ten minutes on the latter part of the ride.  People just not paying any attention...and not too worried about inconveniencing others on the path.  You really need to lower your expectations for those kind of rides.

For an aging person who has had trouble with remembering names for many years, the Dunn Bros coffee shop has thrown more challenges into my morning coffee.  They've had one set of two girls ever since they opened who look very similar, and who will occasionally work together.  I have almost no shot of getting their names (which I kind of remember) properly aligned.  This week, two girls now home for the Summer have been on the morning shift, and they might as well be identical twins.  Who is who may never get straightened out.  And they like the confusion that they cause as I try to make the call!

Does anyone actually care that the NBA Finals are being played these days?

Now the College World Series (CWS) is a matter of interest and the games start on Friday in Omaha.  In addition to the usual suspects, outsiders Kent State and Stony Brook (Stony Brook?) have made it to The Big Show (for college baseball).  The fact that Stony Brook won their way to Omaha by way of knocking off Miami and LSU on their home fields suggests that they belong.  I'd like to see them win a couple of games.

Who plays the part of Erin Andrews these days?

Make it a good day.

BCOT

Tuesday

Okay so I have now acquired an app to facilitate the blog as entered from my iPad. The app cost $4.99 so it had better work!

I'm going to publish just these couple of sentences to see the preliminary results.

Well, it seems to work...with Learning Curve still on the steep side. I don't see a spell-check function available. I think that it just gives a red underline on a word that doesn't compute. Just like the iPhone texting protocol. Hmmm. That makes sense.

The comments on this app suggest that pictures can be added within in this format, but I have no pictures on this device yet.

Round 2 of the Fitness Club is this evening. The first night was pretty much what I expected. I am a weak link.

I stopped over at the Bettendorf City offices today to get my building permit to authenticate my pal Ron's work to install those windows in my living room. About a year late. The gal who helped me with my application used to work for the accounting firm that hired me when I came to town in 1980. She recognized me right off. Me her, not so much.

So I'll add here from home after the training session tonight. And after the wine after the training session.

BCOT

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday...UPDATED

So this is my first effort at blogging from the iPad. I need to figure out how to change the font. And it isn't giving me paragraph-breaks. Coming to you from Dunn Bros coffee shop. In full recovery from TOMRV. It looks like I have a slightly different input-screen for Blogger on this device than I do on the laptop or desktop. I don't have the new spell-check function. I wonder if there's an App to download that will present the other screen. Hmmm. All this technology. Such little time. I also need to figure out this "Cloud" thing.

Saturday was a near-perfect day. Generally favorable winds. Warm but not really overly hot. Good friends and a nice, challenging ride. 85 miles is plenty for me. By the time we arrived in Galena, most of the riders had made their way past me as few folks passed me going up the last few hills. I don't think that the total number of riders was as high as in prior years. At those last couple of sag stops, there was lots of snacks and fruit still to be had. I'm sure that the left-overs would be out for the riders on their return trip home.

We did run into the guy from three years ago with the Jagermeister shots. He has since sold his business and is in full-retirement. 2 and I will need to schedule a meeting with him this month to catch up.

We have a modified fff scheduled with 3, Herky and the McB's at lunch over at @srh4's. Details and pic's to follow here after their departure.

So I think that this iPad with keyboard may likely be my preferred entry mechanism in the future. This keyboard is so much more user-friendly than the built-in keyboard in the laptop. And the portability of the iPad is a no-brainer. We'll see.

More later. Make is a great Sunday.

NOW LATER...

I did some editing of the initial entry to create some spacing.  Still don't know the deal with the iPad protocol.

Here's a couple of pic's from yesterday and today.  That's my pal Ron and me after we got home last night.  Neither the worse for the wear.

2 and 3 taken just a while ago as 3 and Herky were preparing to leave for their return to NYC.  Then I have this random shot of the rental car being packed.  Who are those guys?

These other pic's from yesterday were taken on the Sabula, Iowa bridge.  This is where TOMRV crosses over from Iowa into Illinois.  The floor of the bridge is the metal grating that can be treacherous when it has any moisture.  The cue-sheets for the ride instruct riders to walk across the bridge, but most folks ignore that advice.  I elected to take the safe route and walked across the Mississsppi.

The new Home Page shot is of Ol' Muddy, looking South from the middle of the Sabula bridge.

The local Race for the Cure was held yesterday in Moline and it did not feel much impact from the dust-up that the Komen Foundation encountered last Winter with Planned Parenthood.  The number of participants (8,100 or so) was about the same as last year, and the amount of money raised was actually over $50K higher.

So that's pretty much it for today.  Hope that the Peanut Gallery has a good week.

BCOT

Thursday

Another Top Ten day in the neighborhood.  They do say that the heat will come in for the weekend, but these last couple of days with highs in the mid-upper 70's have been top drawer stuff.  We could use a little rain.

The spin instructor didn't say "No".  Yet.  I did an initial inquiry by email, and her email response was more favorable than not.  Additional discussion face-to-face to follow.  My pal Cal is interested as well.  This could be a hoot.  Core training and wine on Maplecrest!

I did order the iPad yesterday.  It's the new one with 4G technology.  Its scheduled for delivery tomorrow.  Including the separate keyboard/folio cover.  2 will need to be giving me lessons on usage.

I came across some dirt in the DM Register yesterday that is almost too hard to believe.  The gal who had been the head of the Des Moines public schools the last several years (and who had accepted a similar position in Omaha beginning in July) found herself in the soup when "sexually explicit" emails were discovered on her school email account.  I'll leave it to you to research the details (query "Des Moines schools" on Google News), but the incredible part of the story is that she used her school email account for the correspondence.

The financial cost of this brain-dead loss of clarity exceeds two million or more.  She was making $250,000 annually in DM, and was scheduled to get $300,000+ in Omaha (including benefits).  Do the math.  A $629 iPad with a $25 monthly fee doesn't even register on that scale.  And she'll be lucky to get a job of any sort in education administration in the future.  Those FOIA searches are a beach.

That new Ping G20 driver that I wrote about a week or so ago could be the real deal.  I played 9 holes with Roy last night at Geneva, and my drives on the three hardest holes were long, in the fairway, and lead to much easier second shots.  Two pars and a bogey.  Technology is currently suggesting that my target of a 12 handicap by the end of the season is a definite possibility.  Not that I have a problem with oxymoron's.

An article in a recent SI that had a round table discussion about the status of golf in the USA made an interesting point.  Most people focus on the total score for the round.  And keeping score like that leads to more time on the course.  In contrast, many Saturday morning "games" among friends at a club are done on a match-play basis between two-man teams.  In match play, total score really has no meaning as each hole is either won or lost.  So in many cases, when a guy on one team hits a great shot that leads to an easy birdie, the other players may not even finish the hole if they obviously can't beat that birdie.  Similarly, a guy who puts one out-of-bounds, or a couple in the water, may just "pick-up" and concede that he can't help his teammate on the hole.  He's being "carried" by his partner.

Match play can take less time...usually.  And one bad hole won't take a golfer out of the picture for the match, as the next hole is really a "do-over", and everybody has a clean scorecard.  Golf is supposed to be about fun, and keeping score can be a possible inhibitor to the fun factor.  Just a thought.

Another choice that average players make that can make for too-long of rounds is the choice of tees that they tee from.  Most course offer a variety of distances with tees going back to "the tips", or up to the "super seniors".  (We usually play something in the 6300 yard range.)  When Average Joe's feel their testosterone and go back too far on the tees, they make the course too long for their games.  Balls get lost.  More strokes are required.  And the round goes on too long, time wise.  Not to mention that they probably hold up the entire course for other golfers.  Just another thought.

Now off to the yard and house duties.  I may try to jump back on later.

BCOT

Tuesday

I elected to use a pic I shot last Friday on the golf course at Geneva as my Home Page photo-op to reflect the green, green grass of home.  The deep blue of the sky was placed in crisp contrast with those billowy white clouds.  Taken with my back-up, back-up mini-digi Canon.

And on the same sequence on the memory card was this recent shot of My Favorite Tree over by West Branch.  Shot from the Buick while doing about 80 MPH headed East.  I'm still seeking the perfect pic of that tree.  This one was taken one-handed while I was passing a semi, and has been significantly cropped to get the focus on the tree.

And the other interesting pic is this one of flowers just off of my door on Maplecrest.  There's a little lady-bug in the upper right portion of the flower.  That little Canon is a handy piece of equipment.

I did vote today.  There was only one race contested on either ticket.  (Remember that, at least in Iowa, you can only vote for the candidates of one party in these primary elections.)  I have no strong opinions about the two Republicans looking to run for our Congressional seat, and I was tempted to re-register as a Democrat to vote against the Democratic incumbent (Dave Loebsack), but I just couldn't pull the trigger. 

It will be hard to defeat Loebsack given the left-ward tilt of the district that now encompasses Iowa City, Ottumwa and the Quad Cities.  He's college professor by vocation (Cornell in Mt. Vernon, Iowa)and has benefited from the liberal muscle of Iowa City politics.  He votes with the Party on virtually all significant issues, and has the White House talking points memorized.

Iowa lost a Congressional seat in the 2010 census and our districts have been reconfigured.  Under the new map, two Republican incumbents were looking at facing one another for a seat, but one moved a ways and will now face a Democratic incumbent instead.  And our former governor's wife, Kristi Vilsack, is running for a seat this year as well.  She will bring in a lot of the Democratic hierarchy from around the country to her campaign trail as they work to defeat a Republican incumbent who has obviously represented only the interests of the 1%.  I'm pretty sure that the basics of this race will be similar to the National debate.  It won't be pretty.

I've had an outbreak of army ants on my door steps at home.  My pal Pete had commented that he had seen masses of the ants a couple of places on his walks last weekend with The W, and I had had to fumigate a little in my basement after NYC.  I'm sure that it's just a seasonal thing.  But very irritating.

All for now.  More later.

BCOT

Sunday

I've had a busy last few days.  My goal is to make this week totally uneventful...at least until the TOMRV ride on Saturday up to Galena.  And I hope that that trip is just an 85 mile walk in the park.

Last night's wedding of 3's friend Meredith was held at a facility near Solon, Iowa.  They call it the Celebration Barn.  It can probably handle a party of 400-500 seated guests at tables.  There were 200+ there for this wedding.  I think that most guests were bussed in from Iowa City.  Without a detailed map, and Herky in the back seat, I would have had no chance of finding the place.

I'm making 3 Daughter of the Day for her effort to come back for the weekend.  I think that her wake-up call for the Friday morning flight was the equivalent of 0230 CST.  Those are the ones where you seriously consider whether going to bed is a viable option.  Here's a pic of her and Herky after the ceremony. 

The ride up to DeWitt this morning with my pal Pete was an excellent adventure.  He didn't push it too hard, and the wind wasn't unfavorable.  45+ miles.  Four hours (more or less), including about 40 minutes over coffee, the paper and a Sunrise Sunday Special.  Love breakfast at The Sunrise Cafe.  Saturday's ride to Galena will be just a shade less than twice the round-trip to DeWitt.  I hope the weather is as good as today's.

The Winniferous and I have been doing fine.  However, just like that three-day-weekend in Vegas, it's always good to get back to normal.  That means that 2 needs to have her plane make it home on time Tuesday evening!

Here's my latest scheme:  I'm going to try to hire my spin instructor to be my personal trainer for the next six weeks!  Right up to the wedding.  Maybe three supervised sessions a week.  Golf on Friday and Saturday confirmed that my back was in no shape to play 18 holes.  If I want to reach my goal of lowering my handicap to a 12 by the end of golf season, I need my back to be much more cooperative.  On the ride this AM, the personal trainer idea came up in conversation with Pete.  The spin instructor really isn't a trainer, but she's a track coach, and most of what I need is stretching.  She's qualified for that.  If she'll agree to work with Pete and I, I may extend the offer to 2 to join us.

I elected not to participate in the PrideFest this weekend on the riverfront.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Look for more unrest in the markets this week.  Sell in May and go away...probably good advice this year.  Uncertainty in Spain will lead the stories tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT