Saturday

Another great evening of FFF at my place. How did 1 get so many gifts?

2 gave me her cold and I am miserable. Lots of couch time today.

Hawks at the Alamo Bowl today. Take Texas and give the points.

Under the presumption that I will feel better tomorrow, I'll take a shot then at the 2007 goals.

Be careful out there.

Friday AM

Another disjointed day away from the blog. Sorry.

Good times with everyone at Biaggi's last night. It was a long evening as the first wave came at 5:30, and the second wave came in around 8. By the time I got home at 9:30, I was like totally ready for bed.

We have our sisters' gift exchange today. Lots of wrapping yet to do. BBQ at my place if the weather cooperates.

I seem to have picked up at least a part of 2's cold. I woke this AM with the sore throat/lung congestion that she has had the last few days. I hope my experience with it is brief.

Busy day today with it being the final business day of the year.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I guess I'm giving up on catching up with the day I lost on Christmas.

This is a week that has always been a little odd for me. The time between Christmas and New Years is important for some of my business clients, but for others, it's very low key. As I do less tax work, there is less stress from yearend decisions that must be made to get a transaction into one year or the other. For my partners, this week is usually very hectic.

1 is coming to town tomorrow for a family weekend. 3 is bringing her beau in from C-town so it will be party hearty in the Quad Cities.

Another nice day here. I want to get a Shel run in this evening. Lots of rumors out there about various family members doing halfs this Spring. I will not be one of them.

Turns out I was spotted at the movie on the 24th by a friend/client. His comments about the movie were mostly that it was long and complicated. I agreed. But in the overall scheme of things, we have been to worse movies on Christmas Eve.

My Ironman watch took a turn for the worse over the weekend. The gal at the counter at Wal-Mart tried to put in a new battery, but either it wasn't the battery, or she killed it, because the new battery did not solve the problem. I hear that Santa has a new one for me in his bag. In the meantime, I broke out the old Seiko that has been sitting in my desk for 15 years, and wollaah, it works. The band is a little tight, but the auto-winder-thingamabob inside was able to restart the thing once I put it on my wrist. This is a watch that I bought in Korea in 1973 or 74.

We are at the point that we need to be looking at 2007 goals. I'm not sure that I did real well with my 2006 list, but I'll drag it out here in the next few days to consider the results. I'll expect some commentary from my readership.

So I may try to get back at this later.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday AM

This is the Monday entry that was not made.

Great times on the 24th and 25th. Very low key. Missed 1.

The Matt Damon movie was OK. Long. A new element to the evening of the 24th was a glass of wine at Biaggi's between Chucky Cheese and the movie. I didn't even think they would be open. And they were busy.

Low key Christmas Day. SB's early. I got in a Shel run before our meal. Movies, internet stuff, and crosswords.

More details later.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Happy Birthday to 4!!

I just stopped by to check the blog. I'm in the middle of doing my Christmas shopping.

The term, "blog", made it into the Friday crossword. The clue was, "Modern medium."

My current proficiency has moved up to what I would call, "Slow Friday." I don't think I'll ever get to any noteworthy Saturday level. And I'll only keep the Friday designation if I keep hard at it. Which raises the whole question of good use of one's time.

The outdoor Christmas lights just didn't make it this year.

We miss you, 1. Hope you have a good day.

OK. I'm back on the shopping trail.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Is there a reverse relationship between interest in the blog and the number of consecutive days that the sisters are together?

Iowa found another opponent worthy of a beating. Go Hawks.

2 and I got out there for a Shel run today. Hard going. FFF at my place in a little while.

Happy Tax Birthday to 4.

My 1st Day of Christmas memory is putting cookies and milk out for Santa Claus when I was a kid. And laying in bed listening for the bells on his sleigh.

In other startling news, I actually bought two gifts this AM. A full 30 hours before my normal shopping begins.

Be careful out ther.

Friday

Recovery mode here. 750 miles yesterday.

My 2nd Day of Christmas memory is any midnight Mass. Hard to get the Catholic out of the boy.

I'm off for a glass of Tuscan red.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

So this will be an atypical morning posting in recognition of our later-today road trip to Minnesota.

The Hawks finally found a team that they could beat. Georgia State. Wow. Alford had Haluska still in past the midway point of the second half with Iowa up by 44.

My 3rd Day of Christmas memory would be, with no specific year or generation in mind, the Kid's Table for the Christmas dinner. I remember it always being pretty full when we celebrated with Aunt Martha's family many years ago.

Sorry for the delay here. A little conflict with that road trip.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Yucky day in the neighborhood. It has rained here most of the afternoon. Glad that it is not snow.

We had a press conference here this AM to announce our sponsorship of the Quad Cities Criterium next Memorial Day. Decent turnout. We'll see how the story is reported. 3 helped set up the SB's decanters and the treats. You did good. Thanks. 2 took time off from work to attend as well.

2 and I will be travelling to Minnesota tomorrow to attend services for Matt's Mom. It will be a quick trip as we both need to be at work here on Friday. Sad times for all of us.

I'm told that the 14 Days of Christmas memory list was too long to sustain. I did see where Anna and The King made it's second appearance yesterday. Actually, I think I had a miscount originally because if today is the 4th Day, our list runs out on Saturday, which is a day early. Maybe next year we can do something like our top 10 Christmas Dreams. Fantasy sells.

So for my 4th Day of Christmas Memory, I select the old Nativity scenes from my kid days. I even made a couple of the "stables" myself from scratch. They were not keepers. Painted plaster figurines of Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus, the Wise Men (always off to the side as they were getting there after the birth), the shepherds, sheep and other animals. Swaths of cotton on top of and around the "stable" for winter effects.

Traffic has been amazing. It must be getting close to Christmas. I'm going to have to get to my shopping soon.

I'm off to the Augie game.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

No blog today. Way too many irons in the fire.

My 5th Day of Christmas memory is cinnamon tea sticks, making the regular tea-bag tea something special. Almost like Starbuck's!

Be careful out there.

Monday

This may or may not work tonight. I think the internet is up, but email here at the office is down, so what does that do to the blog? I think it will be OK, but the gremlins are at work in my space.

We did end up doing a little FFF last night at my place. I cooked a whole chicken on my outside grill using the metal cone/platter device that 2 had given me for Father's Day. The result was good (but not great BBQ) and it was a little extra work to clean. I had put some lemon-pepper sauce (purchased, not home-made) in the interior base of the cone for flavoring, but I think the sause that I brushed on the outside actually added more taste to the meat. It was a five pound chicken and it took a little over an hour to cook. On the positive side, you don't have to worry about turning the pieces as I have to do when cooking chicken halves.

By the way, Aunt Martha was the one who introduced me to the original lemon-pepper sauce for the bar-b-que. I really can't remember whether it was when I visited there during college breaks, or after getting out of the AF when I lived there for a couple of months before starting grad school in IC. She would make it from scratch. Given all the over-the-counter stuff now on the shelves at the grocery store, we should have spoolled up the processing plant back then and maybe the success of the apple sauce in Baby Boom could have been us!

3 handled the salad. Two bags from Hy-Vee, dressing included. In my sauce pans. Scalloped potatos. We were just missing 1 and a little Triv to make it a perfect evening.

3 is helping me out at the office this week. I have a couple of special projects that will help us tidy up some files before year end. I'm letting her work off her cell phone indebtedness.

I was glad to see the NBA come out with some pretty harsh penalties for the mess in MSG on Saturday night. I suppose the players union will come out and appeal the suspensions as too severe. The players may have great athletic talent, but taken as a group, I could absolutely get along just fine without the league. And I love basketball.

Looks like the climbers on Mt. Hood lost out to Mother Nature. The National Geographic Channel was running a show over the weekend about groups climbing Mt. Everest. Scarey stuff. You get that high up, and things can go bad quickly and people die. The commentator said that something like 80% of the deaths occur on the way down the hill. I suppose that so much energy is expended to get to the top that small crises on the way down just get out of control. It looked like they was a human traffic jam on the mountain at the time of the filming of the segments that I watched. More people tuned in to the sport/adventure because of the Information Age. If you have the money, you can probably find a guide to take you there.

My 6th Day of Christmas memory brings up another element of my grade school age youth. If you look at my annual school picture from each year (disregarding the butch haircut and the buck teeth), I always had on that year's sweater from Christmas. Some things never change: I still like getting sweaters for Christmas...:)

Hope Matt and 1 get through these tough next few days. We're thinking of you.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

A little excitement at MSG last night with the Knicks and the Nuggets. It's another world.

And a bit of a rough day/evening for Iowa's two major state university's men's b-ball teams in Des Moines yesterday. The Clones have some excuses as they adjust to a new coach and system. The Hawks are just bad. And beaten by the coach who was run out of IC so they could get Alford. People in Palo Alto may want to look into that history.

2 and I did get our run in yesterday and may try to do another one today. It's hard to ignore these 50+ degree days in December for outside activities.

Coffee at the new SB's this AM. The good news is that one of the baristas there today had worked over at the Duck Creek store and had always done a good job taking care of me. She was able to get my extra-hot Americano exactly to my liking. Interestingly, a gal who has been a longtime customer at the Duck Creek store drove up just as I was leaving and we exchanged greetings. There may be a little migration from Duck Creek to the new place as people adjust for location and, maybe, busy-ness. Plus, the new one has a drive through.

Lots of golfers out yesterday. With the Why Pay Less Tour taking off for Cabo in less than three weeks, I should get into some stretching exercises or my production in Mexico will produce nothing but aches and pains.

The extortion for my passport mentioned here last month at least paid off, albeit not without a small bit of irony. I have it in hand. It was delivered to my home address in an Express Mail envelope that looked suspiciously like a special offer for some AARP Insurance or Veteran's Benefits or the like. It sat unopened on my counter in the recycling pile with other papers for a day or two before I opened it, out of curiosity, as I was literally headed for the recycling tub in my garage. Lucky for me. If I had had to get an emergency-issued passport now, the cost would have likely doubled from the inflated price that I paid in November.

My special history with birds continues. I have a cardinal pair that must nest around our office building. The brightly colored male spends a fair amount of time, even now, pecking at my window as it fights off a suspected intruder (his shadow). I have another pair at my house, but that male must not have the same level of belicosity. I'll try to get them on film for later publication. They are very striking (no pun intended).

My 7th Day of Christmas memory goes to just a couple of years back when my photographer friend came to Chucky Cheese and did a roll of great picures for us. Not only did it give us several suitable-for-framing prints, the event led me to my current fool-proof camera. When I was talking to him later that week after looking at all of the nearly perfect pictures, I asked him how he was able to do it. And I got the response that has been my not-so-secret weapon ever since, "Auto-focus!"

Get out and enjoy the day. Maybe a little FFF at my place this evening.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Pretty good entries. Memories are good things.

No big plans here today. Hope to get 2 to come with me on a run. Mild weather continues. 3 and4 are supposed to get in for their Christmas break.

Continuing the theme of religion and exercise from last week, there was an article in this AM's paper about a book entitled, "Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing", a merger of the rosary and yoga. I feel a combination of admiration and wonderment about the concept. Admiration that the guy can put a book together on some pretty diverse thoughts. Wonderment that, properly packaged and marketed, almost anything can sell.

Speaking of selling, another story in today's paper has model Cindy Crawford promoting her furniture designs in a company (that I've never heard of) called Rooms To Go. And the story claims that the line has had annual sales of over $100 million since it was launched in 2005. I don't get it.

Another little vignette on what has become my progression to old age. For complex reasons, I took a pass on SB's this morning and hit the somewhat new Mickey D's at Duck Creek in Bettendorf. I got a small coffee and the kid charges me 48 cents. I think nothing of it. I sit down and am reading the paper when a friend joins me and we proceed to chat a little, comparing the crowd and costs there to the SB's across the parking lot. My friend comments about the coffee costing only 98 cents compared to the $1.75 at SB's. When it comes out that I paid 48 cents, we both realized that the kid at the counter had automatically given me the senior price! I must officially be an old guy now.

My 8th Day of Christmas memory goes way back to my childhood. I was a big Lone Ranger/Roy Rogers fan and I always got a new twin-six shooter cap gun/belt setup. From Santa. Very cool. I must have been hooked on some outer space show at one point and I remember one year getting a battery operated ray gun that flashed and made a whirlling noise. It drove Martha nuts. And I remember going out into the forests and fields of the farm when I was probably 10 or 12 years old looking for a decent Christmas tree for the house. And I'm sure that I drug one in a year or two. But it's not like we had a lot of evergreen trees on the farm.

I'm off to do various domestic things. While trying to avoid the holiday traffic. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

My 9th Day of Christmas memory is putting together various kids' gifts where there was "some assembly required". Didn't the little yellow bike come at Christmas? Was that the vehicle of record on Mary's crash at Mercy Park?

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Pretty quiet out there today.

Another great day weather-wise here. Sunny and 50+.

We have our office party tonight, and I have a meeting beforehand, so this will be brief. There is no chance of me getting back here for a longer entry. Our parties are never that great, but the meals can be ok.

For the 10th Day of Christmas memory, I'm picking Mary's gift to me of the model Ford Galaxie 500.

Gotta go. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday PM

Well, let's see if I can't get back to a regular schedule.

Blogger does shut down occasionally for maintenance. It was just an odd deal yesterday. I had started the entry, stepped away for a while, came back and finished, and then tried to publish. With no success. When 4 is home for the holidays, I'm going to have her help me upgrade to the newest version of Blogger since they query me on that everytime I open the site. I'm betting that sometime soon, they will just trash your stuff if you don't get with the new program.

2 and I did a three mile run at 4:00 this afternoon. It was nice out and with the snow gone, the Shel route was available. It was cool enough that I wore gloves the entire time, but I had the baseball cap as opposed to the stocking cap. Pretty nice for December 13th.

1 and Matt have decided on the reception location, a country club that looks very nice. Their investigation of possible sites was a learning experience for them. In an area like the Twin Cities, there are probably hundreds of possible places from which to choose. Getting through the process to find a place that has the right mix of atmosphere, location and costs is no easy task. If there was no budget to worry about, things would probably be less complicated. But the bride in this case chose her parents poorly, and they're both accountants to boot. The menu and wine selections have yet to be finalized.

1 also reports of another victory for her ninth grade girls. That make it 4-1 for the season. Not bad for a rookie coach.

I had a conversation with a Bettendorf girls parent today following last night's PV girls win in the girl-boy double header at Bettendorf. (The PV boys lost.) I volunteered that I had little admiration for the Bettendorf girls' coach, and I found it interesting that he was not so quick to criticize her. Apparently, there's quite a bit of that (criticism) going around about her, and he sees some overly-involved parents perhaps trapsing past that invisible line of good conduct. I never liked the way she talked down to the players. But he thinks she has matured some since her early days at PV. Whatever. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with those kinds of things anymore.

My 11th Day of Christmas memory is wheeling a cart-full of kids through the aisles and eventually looking at the angel figurines at K&K after Sunday church. Maybe, not exactly Christmas, but close enough for this discussion.

The Faculty Senate at Iowa gave a nearly unanimous no-confidence vote to the Board of Regents. This all stems from the unsuccessful search for a new U of I president that was mentioned here recently. Plus, the chairman of the Regents has made it pretty clear that he just really doesn't care what the faculty thinks. The Faculty Senate has no power or authority. The Regents' chairman has a rather distinguished record in the media business, both in Iowa and in New York. Among his other interests is majority ownership (I think) of the Iowa Cubs. I've always thought of him as a little too impressed with himself, but I have a highly respected client/friend who thinks the guy is top drawer. Again, whatever. For what's good for the U, I'd take his judgement over the Faculty Senate.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday/Wednesday

I tried to post this Tuesday night, but Blogger was down and I had to get home. Sorry again.

We are in the middle of a small heat wave. I think that they are talking 50's for a few days. All that snow that we received a week ago is gone except for the remnants of the piles at the edges of streets and parking lots. Tough weather for the ski places.

My submission for the 12th Day of Christmas memory is 3's resurrection of the children's Christmas play at OLOTR. Isn't she wonderful?

Information from Lake Tahoe is that snow there is pretty meager too. They can make snow at elevation, but only a few of the runs are covered by the snow-making machines. Hope they have a turn for the winter weather in the next couple of weeks so that 3 has plenty of options on her visit. Somewhat ironically, 2 and 4 and I had to climb over snow on Mt. Rose when we were there in July. Mother Nature has her own schedule.

Anybody watching what the free agent signings in baseball are going for? Guys whom I have never heard of are getting multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts. Kenny Lofton got a $6 mil deal for a year, and he's 40 years old. It all means that the teams are making all kinds of money and they can afford the contracts. The Cubs have spents hundreds of millions, and I'll take the under for win-not win their division next year.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Monday/Tuesday

I have no clue where today went.

Pretty good additions to 4000 Days' "14 Days of Christmas" list. For the record, the daily additions are not necessarily in order of importance. For anyone.

I wish I would have put this on the blog a day earlier. Jimmy Johnson, the 48 car/NASCAR champ, made the news wires over the weekend by breaking his wrist at a celebrity golf outing. The original statement released by his camp had him falling from a cart that he was riding in when the driver made an unexpected turn. My first reaction was, "I wonder how much alcohol was involved?" It came out yesterday that he was riding on top of the cart.

I left this open last night when I ran out for what was supposed to be a brief cocktail with Roy before a function that he needed to attend at 6:30. Needless to say, it wasn't brief and I never made it back. Sorry.

For my entry of the 13th Day of Christmas memory, I submit the sledding hill at Duck Creek, with no snow, and our running commentary as we drove by about the performances of the make-believe kids going down the hill.

So I'll do better today.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Beautiful day here. Maybe 40+. I brought Margret out to burn off some of the carbon on her valves. I still haven't had the one backseat window fixed so its a little breezey in there.

My pal Roy had a small accident on his way to coffee this morning. He was looking around his dashboard, had his eyes off the road, and ended up banging into a curb, flattening one tire, bending a designer rim, and bubbling up another tire. He was able to limp into the SB's parking lot. After coffee, we took a shot at changing the tire, but the repair kit was missing a fitting to loosen the lug nuts, so he ended up calling Mercedes roadside assistance. He let them tow it to the shop and he just fired up another of his cars. Life is a beach.

I watched the made-for-TV production yesterday of the the recent Ironman Triathlon from Hawaii. This is pretty close to the most insane athletic competition out there: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a little 26.2 mile marathon to finish. Most of the two hour show was comprised of the human interest flash-backs of various competitors. And there are always lots of stories. The remarkable thing is that the men's winner completes the entire course in a little over 8 hours, the women's winner in a little over 9 hours. Then there are the rest of the competitors whose goal is to complete the thing before the midnight deadline. For those coming in close to midnight, they have been out punishing their bodies for 16-17 hours.

The whole concept of this event reflects an element in human nature that seems to exist in everyone to varying degrees. Not everyone is driven to extremes in their various fields of endeavor, but many cannot resist a challenge. Physical challenges inspire more participants, because there are no intrinsic intellectual or economic limitations: a person need not be rich nor highly educated to run, bike or swim. Technology has widely disseminated the information about these more extreme activities. And more and more people see themselves as participants, not observers.

My philosophy on this is that a bit of moderation is OK. I mean, its not like you're getting paid to do this stuff. Well, the winners might be. But the midnight finishers are just nuts.

The college girls have finals this week. I'm sure that they spent the weekend pounding the books. Knock 'em dead, ladies.

Here's an interesting factoid for 2007. Tax deductible contributions of cash will not be allowed by the IRS without a receipt. Heretofore, there was no specific rule, and people commonly took a deduction for "estimated" amounts that they would put in various cash collections at church, school or The Salvation Army. My guess is that entities who rely on these cash contributions will have to come up with a verification system, or their collections will measurably drop off. For my clients, I'm telling them to make all their contributions by check.

I am considering checking out my four strands of outdoor tree lights for possible hanging later this week. As I recall, there were some defective portions on the strings when I pulled them down last year. Houses on both sides of me have been lit up for weeks. I definitely was not participating before December 1st. With just two weeks to go, it may be about time. I'm getting soft in my old age.

Here's an idea. Let's all participate in our own version of "The 14 Days of Christmas", a special version for 4000 Days. To make it easy, let's just add a favorite Christmas memory each day. For the 14th Day, I submit 4's birth. Her birthday became, and still is, my favorite day of each year for our family. Remeber, these are Christmas memories. It's not that 1, 2, and 3's birthdays are not special, but rarely are we all together as we have been for each of 4's birthdays. And Chucky Cheese is hard to forget.

I need to get Margret home. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Just a few lines today.

My check-up was a non-event. I've been going to the same doctor for many years and we spend most of the time comparing our lives over the previous year. Everything was ok.

2 and I did 3.5+ this afternoon. Kind of hard for each of us. My excuse was Tuscan related.

My trip to KC was washed out when my pal Pete came up with a flu bug. He's been battling it all week and it just wasn't a good choice to go out on the road for the weekend. Plus, I didn't want to get his germs.

2 had a good time at the Iowa game last night. The parking pass was the key. The Clones didn't give the Hawks much of a game. And the Hawks aren't that good.

4 was at the game too. Her friends had got to the arena early and got the front row student seats. They were featured on the DM Register's on-line photo gallery for the game. 4 was just out of range.

I'm off to the Augie game. I'll check in tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

2 is headed over to IC for the game tonight. Roy's tickets plus a VIP parking pass.

I stopped over at the clinic this AM early and had my blood pulled for analysis for my physical exam tomorrow. You have to fast before you have the blood taken, so I just went before coffee. I hate getting shots and that needle for blood is the same thing.

Anybody notice that ND bballers beat two ranked teams this week? In a rather candid interview earlier this year, the ND coach basically said that they weren't going to get the top recruits, but they were going to get good players who would likely be there for four years and who could emerge as the NBA roll players like Paxson, Quinn and Garrity. It would be nice if they could be competitive in the Big East. My guess is that having Weis elevate the football program has had some carryover benefits to the hard court.

I'm thinking about taking the four courses required by Iowa high schools to become coaching certified. Several years ago, in an effort to get their hands around the volunteer coaching ranks, they came up with these minimially useful classes that an individual had to attend to be able to serve a school in any coaching capacity. Now, my pal Roy has volunteered to be the assistant golf coach at PV in 2007 , and he has to take the courses if he really wants to act in that capacity. The likelihood of him attending the classes on his own is Z-E-R-OOOOO!. So I think I'll do it with him so that he'll "git'r dun". Trust me. I will not be coaching anything, anywhere, anytime.

I see where some real estate family out East paid in excess of a billion dollars for one NYC skyscraper. I didn't look at the comps, but they'd better keep that thing 100% leased to pay for the cost of their capital. A billion here and billion there and pretty soon we'll be talking about real money.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

So a little bit of a deep freeze in the Midwest. It is December.

I had my chest x-ray today. The whole business of radiology has changed with digital imagery. They take the picture the same way, but it gets immediately downloaded and can then be shipped anywhere. I asked the tech who took mine about how the procedure was so different today than perhaps when she was originally trained. She said that she was kind of in the transition generation as they had taught some of the digital stuff while she was in school.

In the seminar that I attended yesterday, one of the presenters was talking about how their firm had got swamped with extended tax returns and had to engage some temps, who happened to be in India. Just like x-rays can be read anywhere once they're online, there is an increasing outsourcing of tax business to India. Because it is there. And it is usually pretty reliable and cheap. As long as they don't have to talk to the client.

My bias against the sub-continent began at Iowa. I hated the TA's in statistics, computer science, and a couple of other MBA classes. I could never understand them. It's kind of like going to the drive-through at Fast Food USA and trying to communicate through a large, double echoing tunnel intercom system.

The problem with the flood on extended tax returns is a little interesting. Prior to 2006, an individual return could be atomatically extended four months to August 15th. A second extension for another two months was available, but you had to apply for that second extension with another form before August 15th. So there was always a portion of the April extended reurns that actually got done by the August 15th extented due date. The remainder of the double-extended returns had to be filed by October 15th.

In 2006, the rules were changed and all extended returns received an automatic six month extension to October 15th. Which meant that there was no artificial deadline at August 15th. So procratinators that we are, October 15th became a deluge of delayed work with no respite. Some might argue that information returns were unusually late this year. But the real reason for the problem is that professionals absolutely live by deadlines. If there isn't one, let's get a tee time!

The Bulls killed the Sixers last night. 10 days after they got run out of the gym in Philly. I don't get the NBA. One night, a team beats another by 20. The next night, they play at the other team's place, and the score is reversed. And maybe the star player for the first team even sits the following night. And his replacement, who went to Mississippi Northern State for two years, and whom I have never heard of, goes for 32. It's gotta be drugs.

Hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Kind of a lost day here. I had yet another CPE seminar today. This one a satellite gig at the Iowa Area Education facility in Bettendorf (the old Bettendorf HS on 21st Street). I did a few crosswords. This was my last such program for the year.

I also managed to go home for the lunch hour and did the Shel three mile route in a little over 34 minutes. It was cool-to-cold with the Westerly breeze, but it felt good getting it done. I wish it was easier for me to run.

The Hawks managed to give it away last night. I had actually turned to other programing at half because I didn't think UNI had enough to make a game of it. Then I flipped over later on and UNI is ahead in the last minute. Wow! The Hawks are in trouble. Bring back Coppin State.

Lake Tahoe housing made USA Today yesterday as part of a story about the softening of the housing market throughout the country. The gist of the article, I think, was that houses may be staying on the market longer, but that prices at Incline were not going down. They also featured a picture of the place at Zephyr Cove that is currently listed for sale at $100 mil.

I must be way too far over the hill. I couldn't get myself to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show last night.

Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Day. No. I'm not that old. One article in one of the papers today mentioned that the memorial in Hawaii is sinking and that they aren't sure what to do to save it. They say that the memorial has been visited much more than anyone projected, and may have simply been under-engineered for the traffic.

I'm sure that for people now in their 70's, the Pearl Harbor attack would make that short list of events that everyone would remember where they were and what they were doing at that time. For me, that kind of list includes President Kennedy's assasination, Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon, and 9-11.

My pal Roy had a major economic event impact him this week. The publicly-traded company that his father founded was sold and the family's remaining interests will soon be converted to good 'ole cashola. He gets hit on by every fund raiser already. It will get worse. I gave him my best planning advice, "Just say no".

The initial bills for the January Why Pay Less golf trip to Cabo hit my recently received credit card invoice. At the tranportation and lodging rates reflected on the bill, the name of the trip has no chance of changing.

With my workout already done, I think I'll head out for a glass of vino. With it basically having been a lost day productivity-wise, I might as well stay the course this evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Short tonight.

I did make it to the Augie game last night. A blowout. The game was not that well attended, but parking was the worst of anytime I have been there. Obviously, there was something going on in the theater or elsewhere on campus because it was a mess. And a little chilly.

For the old farmers out there, USA Today had a story yesterday about Cow Power, an energy program in Vermont that is based on the methane gas generated by dairy cow manure processing systems. There were odor-free by-products used for fertilizer and animal bedding in addition to the gas. Given my close personal history with dairy cow manure, I was a little intrigued by the creative use of the stuff I used to shovel on a daily basis. On the other hand, my coffee crew had little interest in the story.

There was also a feature on the op-ed page by a minister whose spin on his craft was the merger of religion and fitness. I think that may be a bit of a reach, but he did point out that there is a huge percentage of the clergy that is overweight or obese. And he made some good observations about the relationship of good mental health with good physical health, and then took that a step further about good spiritual health. He was a marathoner too. Mostly, I think that he has done with his ministry what I have done with Criterium: put his profession and his avocation together.

Aren't the lucky ones those who don't see their jobs as work?

I'm headed home. Iowa - Northern Iowa in IC tonight. I'm inclined to take the Panthers. I had tentatively planned to be in IC for the Iowa - Iowa State game on Friday night. But that is not going to happen. But I may go to KC for the Chiefs' game on Sunday. It all depends on my pal Pete.

More tomorrow. Stay warm.

Be careful out there.

Monday PM

Well, another Monday with all the trimmings. Lots of phone calls. I need to be more productive.

Had lunch with my friend Bill down at the 11th Street Precinct in the Village of East Davenport. Those tenderloins and fries are hard to beat. Greasy, but good. One of the owners of the bar is the Mother of the guy who runs the bike shop in Bettendorf. Kind of another example of the smallness of the world.

My pal Roy went through the norovirus thing yesterday and today. Same symtoms and experience that I had that week before Thanksgiving. I've been taking serious grief for not shaking hands with people these last couple of weeks. I wonder what this episode may add to the behavior of our group? I might start carrying those clorox wipes with me!

I think that there was a story on the news wires today of another norovirus incident on a cruise ship with several hundred people getting sick. It's a nasty little bug.

For the business news readers out there, CNBC fired up a new on-line site today that might bear monitoring. www.cnbc.com. I normally use cbsmarketwatch.com and my broker site for news. But I like most of the CNBC reporters, so I'm going to give the new site a chance.

Interesting that the very successful Rutgers football coach quickly took his name from consideration for the U of Miami job. And he was an assistant at Miami before he went to Rutgers. And it had to be a lot of money on the table. What does that say about the situation at UM? My guess is that they will turn to a "name" who may currently be out of job. I'm not so sure that President Donna Shilala down there will last. Or the AD. I know that they fired Coker, but that may not go high enough. Look at at Colorado.

Also interesting that Bowlsby (formerly of IC) has also pulled the trigger on the football coach at Stanford. If the AD job changes, coaches with losing records need to spruce up the old resume. See also, Iowa State and McCarney (and Morgan and Douglas).

So I'm off to the erg machine and maybe the Augie game. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday AM

This could be considered a Sunday PM entry. I thought about coming by last night, but decided that it was just too cold to make the trip. It is Winter here in Iowa these days.

The Irish got the Sugar Bowl and LSU. Nothing like playing a really good team on what will amount to be their home field. Take LSU and give the points. Whatever they may be.

The Hawks drew Texas for their Alamo Bowl opponent. This makes the game a lot more appealing to Iowa's fans, I think. Who wants to go to a lower-tier bowl game and watch the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian? I had heard last week that early sales of game tickets to Iowa fans had been a little slow. The announcement of the opposing team being Texas should create some enthusiasm. And it is San Antonio, a great destination.

4 made a trip to Bettendorf yesterday to make a final interview with me for her SB's coffee group feature. Mostly, I think she wanted to get away from IC for a little while.

I have my annual physical this week. In addition to the general poking and prodding, I need to have blood work done and I need to get a chest x-ray. I also got a notice that it has been five years since my last colonoscopy. Now that's what I call exciting news.

The traffic on the main streets in town has picked up to holiday levels. Pulling out of our office park onto Kimberly on Saturday afternoon was an adventure. I don't even go up to 53rd Street.

1 has made progress on the wedding. She will need to keep us updated.

So I have a lot going on here this week. I need to get going. More later.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

A bright, sunny wintery day here today. Cool, so not much of the snow will melt this weekend.

The good news is that my snowblower came to life last night! I had gone home after work figuring that I would be moving the snow the old fashioned way, but I elected to give the blower a few more pulls before I picked up the shovel. And, wal-lah! On about the tenth pull it fired up. So I was able to do my drive-way and the neighbor lady's across the street without injuring my back.

The snow blower is one of those two-cycle engines where you mix oil in the gasoline. Of course, I have no idea what the mixture should be, so I do the finger-in-the-wind test and add the oil to the gas container til it "feels" right. Looks like I guessed ok for this winter. I will have to buy a new gas container for the lawn mower come Spring since it uses pure gas.

I went to a Christmas party last night at some friend's who live on Schoolhouse Road. A couple houses down from Dr. J. (Not that Dr. J. for you basketball fans out there!) The house was very Christmasy, with, by my count, six Christmas trees in the basement. They had it catered and serviced by Biaggi's. Very nice. And I knew a lot of the people so I was able to float through several conversation groups. I did get tired standing so I was outta there by ten or so.

Because of the party, I was unable to watch the exciting Hawkeye game. And now they get Coppin State tonight in the championship game. Who said Alford couldn't excel in Non-Conference Scheduling 101?

Here's some food for thought. Name another sporting activity where the regular season ends, and you then wait 6-8 weeks for psuedo play-off games. Which is what exists with the college football bowl season. The criticism of the BCS and the bowl selection process seems to ignore the timing aspects of the games themselves. You play a game each week for three months, and then you take a month and a half or so off before you play the "big" game. The real issue with this scheduling is that the bowl game committees are focussed on January 1st as the best clebratory time to capitalize on the economics for their communities. While the coaches and college President's may be crying foul about their concern for the "student-athletes", everybody is simply following the money.

A play-off system could work. See what happens in every other NCAA sport in D-1, and every NCAA sport in all other divisions.

Interstate 80 in central Illinois was a real problem during the snow storm Thursday night. I guess people had abandoned their cars and everything. It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature. Sounds like it was a mess at O'Hare too. You just never know about winter travel in the Midwest.

I tried out the new SB's today. I doubt if it will become a regular hangout. I asked for my extra hot Americano, specifically telling them to steam the water. I then sat down in a chair out of eye sight of the barista, and way too quickly, she delivers my drink as an "extra hot Americano". There was no steaming of the water. She surely just poured from the hot water spigot labelled "hot". They must think I'm a rube.

That's actually the second time that that has happened to me at a local SB's outlet. The Moline store tried the same thing one morning last month. I think that corporate policy is to not serve overly hot stuff in order to avoid a McDonald's coffee-like law suit. The Incline Village staff were similarly reluctant to meet my request last Summer, but the Woodbury store delivered the goods willingly, calling it a "cup of fire!" Fortunately, the Bettendorf SB's staff has catered to my preferences.

I'm headed to my indoor workout this afternoon. 2 may be on her own from here on out, or at least until they get the sidewalks cleared.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today. At least not much of one.

The Green Bay Marathon opened for registration today and Matt was one of the first in line. I hope he has a better day weather-wise than I had there. The sideways rain was a bit of a downer.

We got about 6-8 inches of snow last night. My snow blower would not start this AM of course, so I will need to do some shoveling later on tonight or tomorrow. The temps are projected to fall as well. Hello December. Hello Winter.

The path of the storm was such that my pal Roy did not have any snow at his place in Muscatine, just a 30 minute ride south and west of here.

So I'll be in the office in the AM and I'll catch up with everyone then. Although I am beginning to feel a little Camus-ish: I keep blogging and I'm not sure if anyone is out there.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

This will be pretty short today. December will be coming in with a flurry tonight. Cold for sure. The snow may stay south of us.

Coach Kate texts that her team got Win #2 today.

I see where UM canned Coach Monson today. There was a guy who six or seven years ago put Gonzaga on the national college basketball map. His Minnesota teams have never done well. For some reason he couldn't keep players in school even when their NBA prospects were not that high. In contrast, Mark Few has kept the Zags in the top 10 or 15 most years.

The Big 10-ACC shoot-out showed a big gap in the quality of the teams. Seems like the ACC just has lots more talent. Ohio State should come around once Odean is healthy. And Izzo usually gets Michigan State ready come tournament time. But the bottom half of the Big 10 will be lucky to go to the NIT.

I ended up going to the Augie game last night. At least for the first half. Ambrose rolled them by 23. Augie is not showing the toughness that it will take to equal last years' success.

The popcorn was worth the trip. A little salty, but good and hot. The Ambrose gym was pretty full, and loud.

The new SB's opens tomorrow near the office. I may become a semi-regular there too. It does create options.

Stay warm .

Be careful out there.

Wednesday PM

This has turned into a yucky day. Rain and impending cold.

I had to attend another Continuing Professional Education program this AM. Three hours on "Professional Ethics". I think that the state has come up with a new requirement to have a minimum of three hours of the annual required total of forty hours be on ethical conduct. This is all Enron fallout. The profession needs to show reform and this educational update requirement gives them something to report to the state and federal governing bodies.

I guess that the concept is okay, but this program was a complete waste of my time. The Yahoo who was the instructor may or may not have been involved with the development of the course workbook. The workbook led you through interactive stuff that you might have done in junior high school. Not as a 57 year old with 30+ years in the business.

I read the papers, did a couple 0f crosswords and chatted up other dis-interested parties in the back row. Fortunately, the guy didn't try to draw me into any of the discussions. It would not have been pretty.

I may not make it over to the Augie game. It doesn't start until 7:30, and that gets way to close to my bedtime.

The U of Iowa is having a difficult time with the search for a new President. The search committee recently declined to offer the job to any of the four finalists, and the relations between the faculty and the Board of Regents (which governs all of Iowa's state universities) got so bad that Governor Vilsack delayed some of his own political stuff to have a closed door session with some of the players last weekend. The paper today says that the situation has cooled some, but no one has any information on a solution.

The interesting point raised in the DM Register today was the relationship of Wellmark (a big Iowa health insurer) and it's influence through the interconnected ties of the Board of Regents and it's own Board of Directors. Lots of crossover, and Wellmark paid the U Hospitals a couple hundo mil last year. Like everything else in the world, you need to follow the money.

The position of President of Iowa has been a stepping-stone in the last fifteen years to some pretty attractive presidencies at higher profile places like Michigan, Cornell and Dartmouth. I guess that that speaks well of Iowa on the one hand, but why are they leaving? Is it just the money?

There was also an article in today's Register about the Des Moines Area Community College's dental hygienist's program. They have like a two or three year wait to get into the program, and then they have graduates who can't find a job. The dentists whom I know have mixed feelings about the hygienists. The hygienists often want to work limited hours, at a high rate and there tend to be plenty of them around. I don't think that we have a shortage of dentists around here, and my guess is that staffing is not that much of a problem. I guess I can see why there may not be that many new jobs developing each year.

Everyone is crying to find nurses. And they're laying off teachers at the end of each fiscal year around here. I guess it pays to figure out a profession that has some shortages on the employment side before setting a course.

How can we get rid of a few lawyers?

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday AM

Congrats to 1 for her upgrade to full-time for second semester. That's a big deal.

She also had her first win with her ninth-grade girls last night! Go Spartans!

The run for 2 and I last night was very hard. I felt like I was carrying a load of bricks the entire way. I need to go back to the bike trainer.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

No blog today. Running with 2 at 5PM. Dinner with my pal Roy at 6PM.

Great effort on the blog by 4. She needs to do more of that.

3's pain came from dry sockets on her wisdom teeth removal sites. Emergency repairs in IC today. She'll be getting better.

Another warm day here. How many more?

Be careful out there.

Monday PM

So Monday was another Monday.

One of the little episodes I went through over the weekend was the temporary loss of the keys to the Taurus. It came to my attention around noon on Saturday that I must have misplaced the keys. I did the old re-tracing of my steps for the entire day, even though I hadn't driven the car since Friday afternoon. I checked my recycling bin because I knew that I had tossed some empties in there in the morning. I even went by SB's to see if they had fallen from a jacket pocket in the cushion of my regular chair. In the end, I found the keys in the Buick before we took off for IC, almost but not quite, under the front passenger seat.

And the reason they were in the Buick? I'm pretty sure that I took both sets out of the house with me on Saturday morning unsure of my ride, but made my choice of driving the Buick because the Taurus' windows were fogged-over. I must have tossed the Taurus' keys on the passenger seat and then later on knocked them to the floor while messing with the newspapers after coffee.

The whole incident reminded me of 4's problem with her keys at the truckstop earlier this Fall. You go through the motions of some activities and all of a sudden, things vanish. I also am such a huge creature of daily habits, that even small variations can lead to some bad results.

My pal Roy thinks I'm becoming a little overly agoraphobic. Since my norovirus problem a couple of weeks ago, I have shied away from shaking hands with people. I've also been known to tell him, "No, I don't want to go out with you tonight". And he doesn't have many people tell him "no" to anything. Anyway, he's enjoying his venture into analysis of my habits.

For the Clone fans in the crowd, I've never heard of the guy they are bringing in for the football job. Gene Chizik is not exactly a household name. I hope he can bring some players to Ames.

On a related note, I like the results of Clone b-ball so far. This guy can coach. It's a matter of whether he can get the talent to compete with KU and UT.

So hope everyone is off to a good start for the week.

Be careful out there.

Monday AM

I was certainly off my blog game over the holiday weekend. I'll do better this week.

The Irish are licking their wounds. The Hawks are licking their wounds. Da Bears are licking their wounds. The Clones b-ball team seems to be the only group on the plus side.

USA Today reports today that Michael Richards has indeed begun psychiatric therapy for his recent outburst. You heard it here first last week.

2 and I got to our first Augie b-ball game yesterday. We left early when they had the lead, which they managed to lose before winning in the last minute. Small crowd and not that great of a game. They have St. Ambrose in Davenport on Wednesday.

The shopping season will be way too long for me this year.

Busy week here. More later. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday

The retailors call this "Black Friday" for some reason. Generally, in the securities business, "Black Whateverday", is associated with a big down market day. Today is usually the biggest sales day of the year. I guess if sales are not large enough, then it can be a negative day. But it seems odd to call it "black" from the outset.

It was a successful TT. 2 and I completed the five miles in just over 55 minutes, right where I thought we might be. The stretch up the Main Street hill was really hard. Gravity is a powerful thing. 1 and Matt did real well, under 45. The weather was almost perfect. Sunny and 40's, little wind. Lots of runners in shorts and t-shirts. A far cry from a year ago when 3 ended up in bed for the weekend.

Mom did a great job with the turkey dinner. 3 was responsible for the gravey. (She's a muti-talented securities analyst). And we had a foo-foo salad as well. Very high class.

Took Margret out for a spin too. I will probably take her off insurance for the period December-March. She's a fair-weather girl.

Very low-key day here at the office. The markets closed early. Phones were pretty quiet.

4 has elected to use the SB's coffee group for the subject of her film class. She came by this AM for a few shots and says that she will be back tomorrow for more. My pal Roy and I are honored.

No Tuscan red tonight, or at least none on the town. We may do a little FFF at my place, depending on 3 and the collective interest of the fam.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Best wishes to all on a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend.

Beautiful sunny day here. Maybe 60 degrees outside.

Interesting to note after my commentary here last week about San Antonio that the Hawks are now headed there for their bowl game. If fans were looking for a place to go for a few days over the holidays, they could do worse than SA.

I've missed the first two Augustana bball games, both wins, for conflict reasons. Maybe next week. My biorhythms just aren't on bball yet.

I'll make some brief entries these next few days, but probably not anything of length until Sunday.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

This is tax-tax Turkey Day. The clan gathers tomorrow evening. We're about 39 hours to the TT as I write this.

2 and I had a nice run last night and we'll do an easy three miles this evening as a final shake-down for the TT. I'm pretty much back to normal from the weekend's illness. I'm still slow-a-foot, but that is normal for me.

Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld) got in trouble over the weekend for ranting and raving at some hecklers at his stand-up comedy routine at some club in LA, including hurling some ugly racial slurs. Let's see, Mel Gibson has to go into rehab for alcohol for some racial incidents. Foley has to go into rehab for paging pages. Kieth Urban has to go into rehab for being way too foo foo for country music. How long will it take for Kramer to announce that he has to go into rehab for anger management?

Besides Jerry, have any of the characters had a life after Seinfeld? I know Elaine has a show on TV now, but its like her fourth attempt, and its not very good. I never see George, and this is the first I have heard of Kramer in years. Its almost like being a kid star; the show is done, and so is the kid star, doomed to being an assistant producer for his/her adult life.

I guess Peterman made it on Dancing With The Stars. That's what I call making it.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

OK. I had very little to do with the uploading of the pictures yesterday. I had stopped over at Centry Heights for some home-made chicken soup, and 2 and 4 did the labor once I had logged on to 4000 Days. I may employ that duo to get some more-current pics on the site from this weeks' gatherings.

So the Minnesota wedding is scheduled for July 20, 2007. That's a Friday evening. In the church on the campus of the U of St. Thomas. I'm sure that the time between now and then will pass too quickly for some things, and maybe too slowly for others. The reception location and the hotel headquarters should be the next major choices to nail down.

I think that I am back among the living. We'll see in a little while when 2 and I head out for our next-to-the-last training run before the TT. I need to eat well these next couple of days. I'm sure that what I had was the same type of norovirus thing that was in the news over the weekend about the Carnival cruise ship Liberty where some 700 passengers fell ill. Nasty little buggers and almost impossible to contain in such close quarters as on a cruise ship at sea.

3 is in the news again. Actually, she's on the couch in Century Heights, and probably will remain there much of the next couple of days. She had all four wisdom teeth removed this AM (as scheduled). Talk about nasty.

ND is screwed, glued, and tattooed to the Rose Bowl or the like. If they beat USC, and Florida and Arkansas both lose one of their two remaining games (one of those teams will definitely lose a game), the BCS will be left with Ohio State and Michigan II.

The 48 won the Nextel Cup. By finishing 9th yesterday. Ho hum. The 24 must have been riding in a dog yesterday. He was never in the top 15 when I flipped through channels to check on the race. His spot in the final standings was almost locked in if he started and finished the race, which is exactly what happened. Sixth gets him a spot on the stage at the awards dinner, but when you've won four championships, sixth place is not very exciting. (He did marry his Danish/Europeanish fiance last week, and she does make the exciting category.)

I mowed my front yard again yesterday. Who mows their front yard on November 19th? Actually, I was collecting leaves with the lawn mower, but it would be hard to argue that I was only collecting leaves since I was using the lawn mower to do so. Anyway, it was pretty late in the season to fire up the mower. There have been years when I have started up the snow blower before November 20th.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday PM

Here is visible proof of the engagement. Katie is very happy. As are the rest of her family.

Be careful out there.

Sunday AM

I am beginning to return from the dead. Friday and Saturday were pretty much lost days for me. I finally was able to keep some solid food down last night. Funny deal.

I invite 1 to share her exciting news here today.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

I developed a case of intestinal flu about four bells this AM. I thought that it was something that I ate, but my buddy Pete thinks that it's a viral thing. A couple of gals from his office had the same thing earlier this week. Whatever. Lots of couch time. And no Tuscan red this evening.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

I don't think that I have a lot to add tonight, and I'm getting started a little late. Another scheduled run with 2.

The TT is now less than a week away. We have tentatively scheduled our training runs through next Tuesday. The one thing that registered with me last night was the importance of diet. My meals the prior 36 hours had been very disconnected. Few carbs and lots of grease. I had met a friend in C-town for dinner and we chowed down on spicey chicken wings and Coors Light. Tuscan red will have it's limits tomorrow. Same for any Wednesday evening socializing.

Lots of press on the Ohio State-Michigan game. Can't say that I care much. ND is in a bad spot. They could win out and not get to the championship game. If Ohio State wins big, a rematch of Ohio State-Michigan would be unlikely. The one loss teams all have hills to climb. Actually, you have two possible other no-loss teams that are out there, Rutgers and Boise State. The moon and the stars would have to be lined up perfectly for ND to be the choice for the championship. And if Michigan wins decisively Saturday, the Irish will be outside looking in regardless.

1's comments on her page about Christmas should be disregarded. My guess is that school and life in IC have her at a lower point on her life-outlook scale. Her birthday and the Christmas Eve overlap form our family's signature day of the year. And that marathon gift unwrapping session on Christmas morning/afternoon is a wonderful time. It may not be about the presents, but presents are good.

A favorite comment among the adult "boys" whom I associate with is that the golf trip is not about golf. Or the ski trip is not about skiing. Or the Cub's game is not about the Cub's. Etc., etc., etc. The meaningfulness of each of those events, regardless of the activity or the destination, is the enduring friendships. And, of course, the stories. And at our ages, we repeat those stories frequently. And we might even embellish them over the years.

So Christmas is not about the gifts. But gifts lead to good memories. And good stories.

I'm off to the races, so to speak.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday PM

Pretty quiet out there.

The biggest sports news story over the last 36 hours has been the Bobby Knight incident. The rant and rave sports talk show Neanderthals have asked for his head again. I find it amazing how universally despised he is by the sports media. I'm not a big fan of his, but the flaming and gaping going on here is not by Knight but by members of the Fourth Estate.

Sorry for the brevity here, but I need to get going to make my appointed run with 2.

1 advises me that her first 9th grade game is Tuesday.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday AM

Back from C-town. Long day. The traffic is always a bad memory.

More later.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Not much for today. Monday's are always a bit hectic and today was no exception.

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of 4000 Days. So I guess this is the "Tax Anniversary" for the blog. It has been a great year putting out my pearls of wisdom. If I was more creative, I might come up with a Top Ten list of the best things about the blog. But I'm just too tired to try that for now. Maybe later.

I leave at oh dark hundred tomorrow for C-town. I'll try to add something to this while on the road. I plan an early return Wednesday morning.

Just ten days to the TT. 2 and I are headed out tonight for our normal three miler.

Discovery is already getting grief for signing Basso. There's a DNA test that the cycling community had wanted all riders to take to refute the drug suspicions from the Spanish investigation that had resulted in the suspensions of many riders, including Basso, earlier this year. Basso had refused. I think that he ought to take the test. If he's clean, good for him and Discovery. If not, "ciao".

The Cards did the right thing and renegotiated Jim Edmonds' deal to keep him in centerfield. He was due a one year option of like $13 mil, which StL would not have picked up given his age and performance. But a two year deal of around $9 mil per year was good for both sides. He's a baseball player and StL is a baseball town.

Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

I guess you could say that we have been a little neglectful of the blog this weekend.

Friday evening turned into a little longer night than anticipated, with a little more Tuscan red than necessary. I paid the price on Saturday morning when 2 and I did our scheduled five mile run. That last mile and a half was brutal. Still got done in under an hour, but it wasn't pretty. 2 did great. Her plans for a half marathon are very realistic.

Today was a recovery day. Not all that productive.

My buddy Pete's son, the walk-on, logged in 24 minutes in the Hawks' opener against DIII Buena Vista College. Seven assists. The starting guard is out with an injury, and they just signed two guards in their recruiting class for next year, but now is now, and he should get more playing time in the next few games. Good for him

The Irish beat up the USAFA yesterday. And moved up to sixth in the complicated BCS poll. ND goes for the Comander in Chief's trophy (just kidding, folks!) next week at home against Army, having now beaten Navy and AF. If they take care of business next week, they'll be 10-1 going into the USC game after Thanksgiving. There could be several mil on the table for a victory in that game.

I remember being at the USAFA stadium for my nephew's graduation. It's a very inspirational environment. The military acadamies definitely are the homes of the best and the brightest.

My partner Bill and spouse did a weekend getaway in San Antonio. Having been there a couple of times in recent years, I can attest that San Antonio is a very nice place to visit. The focal point of tourism is The River Walk, several downtown blocks of hotels, shops and restaurants that have been built on either side of a narrow channel of water that I think is now only there for show. The river is hardly as wide as a street. But they do boat cruises, and I remember at the NCAA regional how fans of competeing teams did cheers against each other from boat-to-boat. The Alamo obviously gets lots of attention too. With plenty of golf courses, event centers, and other tourist oriented development, San Antonio can be an interesting place to spend a few days. Although maybe not in the Summer. I think the only temperature there in the Summer is "hot".

I have a conference in Chicago on Tuesday at an O'Hare-area hotel. I've scheduled a dinner meeting after the conference and I may just stay the night, coming back early Wednesday. This is the prime time of the year for CPA continuing education programs. The state societies require each member to attend 40 hours of classes each year. That translates to a week of time. Most are one day programs, although the Florida event that I went to for several years was a 2 and 1/2 days. You have to send in class-by-class data every couple of years to the states to authenticate your attendance at the minimum number of classes. Every once in a while you read about someone who didn't get the CPE done, and that's not real good publicity.

This program is sponsored by the Illinois CPA society. Lots of programs are presented by other educational entities or just private firms in the educational business. All of the professions have these continuing education requirements, lawyers, doctors, etc., so there have been lots of businesses that have been formed to do these classes. Each day usually costs a minimum registration fee of $250-300, with some programs quite a bit higher. Hotels, meals and other travel expenses are all in addition to the registration fee.

Some of the more creative continuing education companies do programs on cruise ships, at ski resorts, or, surprise, Disney World! Actually, this is just a small segment of the convention business in the hospitality industry. There's no rule that says you can't host a meeting in Las Vegas or Aspen. But the class and the time devoted to it need to be legitimate. Some organizations got carried away. It got so bad that they had to come up with regulations that limited the number of foreign-based events that you could claim in any given year. (Those Investment Tax Credit workshops held in Tahiti were pretty popular.) The IRS cracked down on this industry in the '70's and '80's by placing strict requirements on the time devoted to educational activities versus the time to leisure. Now the deductibility of the travel and other expenses is much more closely monitored and the classic boondoggles are not as attractive.

Hope everyone is well and that y'all have a great week.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

Thursday

Another extremely nice day in the QCA. Met a Criterium Financial vendor for mid-morning coffee at SB's and sat outside, and worked up a sweat. Not too often that that happens in November.

2 and I are back on the training schedule tonight. Two weeks to the TT.

3 and friends made a random decision and are in C-town for a concert tonight. John Legend? All I know is that his CDs are on sale at SB"S. With a return trip tonight, it will be a long day for that crew.

I went on a tour of the factory facilities on the RI Arsenal yesterday. With the Base Reallignment And Closure (BRAC) threat still out there, the civilian managers at The Arsenal are doing some things to try to improve utilization of the space and equipment on the base. They have over 1.5 million square feet of space under roof that they want to keep operational. So they are out recruiting local, or not so local, businesses that may have use for some of the manufacturing capabilities on the island. My pal Roy has several companies that conceivably could use these capabilities, but it's not like he's out looking for anything right now. But they wanted to give him the royal treatment, and I was included at his request.

The most staggering thing we observed on a tour that last more than an hour was how much excess capacity that exists in their factory. There were row-after-row of huge pieces of manufacturing equipment, presses, lathes, and more. Some fairly basic in function, some computerized and very sophisticated. From actual activity going on that we could observe, less than 25% of the stuff was being currently used. I'm not sure if that constitutes waste, but it definitely smacks of government operations. Not enough accountability.

The gal at the contractor's visitor entrance was about as unfriendly as they come. As has been the case when I have ridden my bike on to The Arsenal for the Memorial Day ceremonies, these low level government employees in positions of authority have a tendency to get carried away with their own importance.

I suppose I need to get going. 2 doesn't like to be late on Thursday nights. I wonder why? Oh, I know...ESPN football!

The radio spots I ran this Fall were done incorrectly. The sales gal had to admit that to me today. We had had the spot recut to correct some pronunciations, and the producers used the original flawed spots . They will give me some comp time as make-ups.

So have a great night.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday II

This was supposed to be the lead item in my earlier posting. As first indicated in an entry here last week...

BASSO SIGNS WITH DISCOVERY!!!!

If, of course, he can pass the drug tests.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I wonder how the post-election news will run. I have avoided anything where I might have to watch Katie Couric or Nancy Pelosi. Or the worst case, both on the same screen. So far I've been successful.

It's pretty obvious that Iraq was the deciding issue in the vote. It wasn't the deficit, the minimum wage bill, or taxes. People were, and are, tired of seeing GIs killed in what looks like a hopeless country that seemingly cannot get past ethnic hatred.

I think we'll have two years of political stand-offs with the focus quickly turning to the Presidental election in 2008. If the economy can withstand a flu bug in the next few months, growth ought to continue. Then it will be a long campaign with lots of uncertainty. In the meantime, I celebrate with every other American of voting age the quietness of the airwaves now that the name-calling has stopped.

Doing three with 2 tonight. It must still be in the 60's outside. Great day.

Enjoyed 4's entry from yesterday. And 1's health tips.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

I'm feeling a little under the weather this evening. I'll let the readers do most of the posting today.

Election Day was always a big day in our home as I grew up. Politics was a passion for Daddy. And he was good at it. But the dark side of the "investigative press" began to surface in his last couple of elections, and by the mid '70's, it was time to pass the torch to others. I remain interested in the political process, but I can't imagine why anyone who had a good career/job would seek public office today.

Rather than watch the results on network or cable tonight, I think I'll watch a game or a movie, read a book, do a crossword, or just go to bed early. I'll save digesting the post-mortems for tomorrow.

I watched none of the CMA awards last night. The stories online and in the papers said that some of my old favorites performed and won as they should have, but my interest in the program (and country music generally) has waned in the Kenny Chesney/Kieth Urban era.

I talked to a friend today who did the Marine Corps Marathon two weeks ago. When I had checked the results, I hadn't seen her name so I wondered if she had had something come up and had been unable to run. Turns out she had acquired her bib on the secondary market, after the time in which transfers were permitted. She said it was a great race, but that she cramped-up toward the end and didn't break five hours. The course goes by all the monuments and finishes at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington. I would have some interest in chasing a family runner or two for that event sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading.

Be careful out there.

Monday

3 has made her choice. I'll let her share at her leisure. It was a difficult decision. She did herself proud in all respects. Lots of stuff to get through before she starts next summer. These next few months should be a great time for her.

2 and I got our run in yesterday, but it was hard. I told her that I hated the feeling of not having run more than I normally hate running. We're running at least five days this week, even if it's only a two and a half mile jog. Just a couple of weeks now until the TT.

Lance nosed in just under three hours in the NYC marathon yesterday. Good for him. He had lots of supporters and an entourage pacing him to the finish. That's seven minute miles. He may not be a marathoner, but to do one in under three hours makes him a man.

2 and I had lunch at the Pebble Creek club house out by PV Junior High yesterday. Not bad. Nice place. 2 gave me a hard time about asking our waitress her name, but as I suspected, I did indeed know her family, and we had a nice little chat as a result.

1 completed her first day of freshmen girls basketball practice today. Go Coach Kate! She will give us some details as her first week of practice moves along.

4 got some new pics up on her site. I have yet to receive the instructions on how to get things up here.

Remember to vote tomorrow. And praise the lord that the campaign season is over!! Double ugh!

So I'm off to hit it with 2.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

So this is very odd. My blog index does not show the Saturday entry, but when I hit the "View Blog" button, it's there. Hope this one makes it on the system.

The game in IC was a bust, at least game-wise. Iowa sleep-walked through the contest and Northwestern won 21-7. The game was not as close as the score indicates.

The suite deal was sweet. Really makes viewing the game the equivalent of going to the theater, with concessions at your fingertips, restrooms right there, none of the elements of weather, and easy viewing of replays, etc. The arrangement was very similar to the luxury box that I have been in at Arrowhead in Kansas City for the Chiefs' games.

The suite must be at an elevation of 10 stories or so. For someone a little afraid of heights, it was mildly disconcerting. I always felt like I was at the edge of canyon and was looking about straight down. I spent a lot of time at the back of the room watching the monitors. Which were on a 3-4 seconds delay. On the rare Iowa good plays, you could hear the roar of the crowd before the play was completed on the screen.

I was able to locate 4 in the student section by getting her on the phone and having her guide me to her seat. I could see her then wave at me, but the details of her face were a little beyond the strength of my eyes. We got to chat a little after the game, but our group was leaving and so it was just a short visit. There was a cash event in the visit, however.

The glitterari of Iowa businesses and education were all in the hallway outside the suite. Talked to the President of the U for a few minutes. Dr. D. from DM happened by and we had a nice chat. The Kum and Go people were next door.

My pal Roy can only handle the foo-foo so much. So we probably won't be back until a late game next year.

Which raises and interesting point. Last week, he and I hung out in the parking lot rather than actually going into the stadium. And we watched the game on the HawkVision replays. This week, we were in the suite, with no open-air access to the stadium. Could it be argued that we were at the game each of these last two weeks, but not really at the game?

So 2 and I are headed out for a run in a little bit. Then a little yard work. Lots of leaves out there right now.

3 remains in C-town. Visiting friends. Job decision still on the table.

Get out there and enjoy the day. And the week. Indian Summer is here.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

I'll try to get an entry in before heading to IC tomorrow.

Have a great Friday evening.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Big game in the Big East tonight. 2 undefeateds. West Virginia and Louisville. Who gives a hoot about the Big East?

The Bulls managed to return to reality pretty quickly. After that thumping of the Heat, they were able to lay their own egg in Orlando. 50-55 wins for them this year will be possible, but not if they can't keep the fire pretty hot.

I got my flu shot today. The Visiting Nurses had a diabetes event at that Northgate banquet hall by the Hy Vee down from the office, and they were doing flu shots on the side. Student nurses were pulling the trigger. One knew 3 from PV golf. I survived. I think they were glad to see me go.

The coffee group has begun to expand. There have been two or three somewhat irregulars in the past who have become almost daily attendees. What used to be a 4-5 person assembly, has often been 7-8 the last couple of weeks. SB's may start charging us a convention fee.

Seinfeld has been on a little more it seems in recent weeks. TBS and/or TNT go through cycles with the half hour comedies and they've been in a rut of Everybody Loves Raymond for way too long. I can't stand that guy. Or The King of Queens. Seinfeld looks to engage in adult humor. These other low rent shows look for for anything that might get a belly laugh.

Thanks to 4 for adding to her blog last night. Even though I detected a small element of negativity in her tone, there was at least an effort at wry humor in her words. Maybe the vitamins have already kicked in.

I see where NASA has now said it will schedule a shuttle mission for 2008 to service/fix/save the Hubble telescope. After the last shuttle disaster, the sentiment was that safety concerns would preclude a mission that was not going to have the Space Station as an emergency exit option. With a couple of incident-free missions, the shuttle mission to the Hubble is now back on the books. I know that there are scientific things that make this kind of exploration beneficial, but exactly how does that improve my life? Jobs for NASA contractors. Great pictures. Lots of theories.

I'm off to have my water meter changed. Have a great evening. Stay warm.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Funny day here. I was up at 4 bells to give 3 a wake-up call for her early departure to NYC. I never quite got back to sleep and I've been dragging all day.

I have a dinner meeting tonight and won't be able to get in my run with 2.

My pal Roy has the suite at the Iowa game on Saturday. We'll be living with the big shots.

4 needs to give us some material tonight. I have to go.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

3 is off to NYC again tomorrow for another bulge-bracket interview. I'm worn out and I've just been talking about it. Good luck girl!

My experience with radio advertising has been less than stellar. When I tuned in to a game a couple weeks ago where my spot was supposed to be aired twice, I never heard it played. I called my sales rep to report my findings and, sure enough, the ad had not been played. Last Friday, I did hear the spot, by chance, but it sounded like the first draft which was re-cut in early September to fix a couple of smalls mis-pronunciations. When I again called my sales rep, she emailed me the spot that they had been using all season, and it was, in fact, the original rendition. I sent her back the email message that she had sent to me in early September with the corrected pronunciations. And she is saying that they need to re-cut it again? Whose on first?

The NBA season opens tonight. Do any games before April matter? At least the players now know that they are not supposed to carry guns anymore. I feel so secure.

The PGA has the season-ending tournament this weekend in Atlanta. It's for only the top 30 players, with no cut, and a $100,000 payday for the last place finisher. And Tiger and Phil are both no-shows, citing personal reasons. $25K a day (at a minimum) just isn't enough to get my attention.

So what's the right length for a season? College football is basically 5 months. The same for college basketball. Pro football runs about 6 months with the play-offs. Baseball is almost 7 with the play-offs. The NBA is probably close to 8. NASCAR is 10. Golf 10-11. Who cares about hockey? This is a rhetorical quiz.

For the religious among us, tomorrow, November 1st, is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church. And while on the topic, All Souls Day is November 2nd. And the difference is...? I think that they are fewer saints, while all of the departed are considered souls.

I hate to agree with SI's Rick Reilly, but his back page column in last week's issue was pretty well on point. The topic was the irony that the San Francisco reporters who broke the baseball steroid story a couple years ago may end up in jail for contempt of the court if they don't reveal their sources for the story to the judge. This outcome for the messengers while among the abusers and their providers, one individual did a total of 4 months behind bars. As is well-documented on this blog, I don't like reporters. But this seems like a lousy result.

I'm off to avoid the goblins and street urchins.

Be extra careful out there.

Monday PM

This has been a typical Monday. And I don't like Mondays.

The moon and stars were out of whack from the start this AM when a lone stranger took my chair at SB's and we had to sit at a different table. Everybody who came through gave the same, "What's the deal here?" look to us.

Tomorrow is Halloween, my most detested "holiday" of the year. It was ok for the girls when they were little, but I became pretty jaded once the junior high, and older, kids made their way through the neighborhoods. And the visits by total strangers from other parts of the city, or other states took any remaining fun or cuteness out of the event. I do remember an Indian Princess parade float (the Sioux tribe with 4) in the blue truck with 3 as my co-pilot as being a good time and kind of cool.

A teacher at Bettendorf said at coffee today that the Bettendorf elementary schools had some internal discussions on how to celebrate Halloween (or not), and the ultimate decision was to take a 2 day Fall Break and simply not have to deal with the political correctness of any conclusion. Who wins there?

We had a discussion at coffee last week one day about the vamp character, "Elvira", who I thought was a pretty hot babe years ago. She did mostly beer commercials. And lots of Holloween stuff. Most of the people in the coffee group had trouble figuring out who she was, and I couldn't remember what brand she represented. Coors, I think. She's probably pushing 60 these days. Aren't we all.

I registered for the TT today. $20 entry fee through 11/10/06. Then it goes up to $22. It's $25 on race day. T-shirts to the first 1500 registrants.

The Marine Corps Marathon in DC yesterday drew around 30,000 runners. One heart attack death on the route, and at least one other close call. That race might be a fun one to do one day, ladies. I think the route makes it's way around lots of the historical stuff in DC.

The 24 survived a couple of wrecks to finish 6th yesterday at Atlanta. He basically has no chance at the championship, but he's been competitive these last couple of weeks. If he doesn't get crashed out, or the motor doesn't fail, the car will normally be in the top 5. Luck has a lot to do with the finish order.

I have made contributions the last couple of years to The Victory Junction Gang camp, initially set-up by the Petty family. The camp is designed to be a true camping experience for terminally ill kids or kids with severe disabilities. It has become a major charity for all of NASCAR. Check it out.

So I'm off to do a run with 2. Hope your weeks are starting well.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

So Happy End of Daylight Savings Time!

It has been an outdoor day for me. Yard work. Some errands in Margret. Maybe a little run yet this evening. Tomorrow may be a warm/nice day too.

3 has yet to get home from C-town. Her re-scheduled flight doesn't leave ORD until like 10PM. I was always a little reluctant to take a late flight out of ORD because of the possibility of a flight cancellation and there then being no option but a hotel and an early AM departure. UAL was famous for finding a mechanical on a nearly empty late evening flight.

4 was successful in posting pics to her blogger blog. I'll be consulting with her to add some art to this site.

With the change in time, I think that we'll now be able to get back to Frank and Melanie. I'll have to go back and re-read some things to get up to speed. I'll maybe do a recap one day so that we can all be on the same page (pun intended).

How 'bout a little Top Ten List to make a Sunday afternoon a little lighter?

Top Ten Most Fun Things to do in late October/early November:

1. Tailgate at a college football game.
2. Watch a World Series game at a good watering hole.
3. Roast some marshmellows with 4 little girls.
4. Cruise on the weekends in Margret.
5. Later and longer at SB's on the weekend mornings.
6. Apple-picking in Hampton. With the girls.
7. Chasing the marathoners.
8. The final mowing of the yard for the year.
9. Tuscan red. Actually this works anytime.
10. A traditional pig roast. There were some wild ones in Solon. Not the pigs. They were very domestic. The attendees were not always that tame.

So add your own. Have a great week. Good luck in all that you do.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Good day in IC. But cold and windy. Roy and I didn't even go into the game. We saw several friends/acquaintances in the parking lot. And we could easily hear the radio play-by-play and could also watch the replays on Hawk Vision. It would have been nicer if it was warmer. Enjoyed seeing 4 and friends. Missed 1 and 3. Another time.

2 and I did 4.8 this AM in 53+. But we were both hurting.

3 is still in C-town, electing to spend the evening with summer friends after her morning interview. The Friday interviews in NYC went well, with BofA already indicating that an offer would be forthcoming. She has also received other calls, including Merrill in NYC, so her whirlwind will continue for a few more days.

Roy has the suite for next week's Northwestern game. It may be a command attendance thing.

So I'll come up with more substance tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Fiday

Typical Friday for me. Early departure and Tuscan red.

This is pretty big news. Ivan Basso has been cleared by the biking associations and is free to race. He was released from his contract with CSC a couple of weeks ago. Look for him to sign with Discovery and be their lead dog in 2007. He could win multiple TdF races in the next few years.

By the by...the 2007 Tour route was unveiled this week. The opening prologue is in London. They then cross the channel for the first stage in northwestern France. The route goes clockwise in '07 so they'll get to the Alps early for some sorting out of the players and the pretenders.

One of my meetings in Dubuque this AM was with a guy whose company had redeveloped an older downtown building for their office. I'm sure that there were rehab credits and local incentives to make the deal attractive for this company, because it is still an old building, but the interior was pretty nice. It was the original Kresge's Five and Dime Store, just like there were in most old downtowns, like Ottumwa. I had guessed to myself that it may have been a Kresge's store as I walked in, and I gave myself a little pat on the back when that proved to be the case.

The core of Dubuque's downtown Main Street had been shut off as a mall for about 30 years beginning in the early '70's. Just like Ottumwa. And they finally reopened it because the concept had failed miserably. Just like Ottumwa. The universal result of closed off streets in downtowns was the elimination of downtowns. (The planners that came up with that idea as the survival strategy for small town America are now working on that wall at the Mexican border.) Dubuque at least has some redevelopment going on now, spurned on I expect by an active gaming industry. Ottumwa was unsuccessful in getting a license this last go-around.

Cardinals can close the deal tonight. Lots of sports media people, none in StL, unhappy with that fact. They say the best teams, like the Yankees and Mets aren't playing, and the Tigers were waiting too long to start the Series. Cry me a river. Looks to me like the Cards are playing the best ball at the right time.

IC tomorrow. Will miss 1.

Be careful out there!

Thursday

I think I wrote about this before, but I had another one of those mornings when I "knicked" myself while shaving and had one of those forever bleeders. That's one of the reasons why I hate to shave. If there were sharks out, I would have been deaded meat.

Busy day here today with many things going on. I have morning meetings in Dubuque tomorrow which will make for a very quick Friday.

Is there anything as silly as the USA building a fence along the Mexican border? Do people drink tainted water in DC and lose all rational thought? The best editorial cartoon showed the US guys erecting a 20 foot fence and a guy just across the border selling 21 foot ladders.

Another incident today of reading about the death of a client in the morning obituaries. When you work with an older clientel, this is not an uncommon event. This was an older gentleman whose wife had passed away a few years ago, and he never got over it. He had managed to live pretty independently these last several years, but he wasn't what you would call healthy. Roy and I talk at coffee about what the conversation might be like among the survivors when we make the papers, and we figure that the stories will not all be complimentary.

2 and I are headed for another run tonight. In the rain.

3 is on her way back to more interviews in NYC (NYC!) tomorrow. Go Girl! The Lt. likes the concept of well-paid, full time employment for his progeny.

Thanks to 4 for the nice, hand-written "thank you" note for the Dad's Day event.

Maybe the Card's can get a win in tonight, but the forecast is not so good. For many of my readers, a Thursday night forecast may be Grey anyway.

Be careful out there

Wednesday PM

Just a few lines before heading out. Running again with 2 tonight at 6.

The local water company called to have me make an appointment for them to come by and exchanged my meter, and possibly put in a remote reading device. This is a combination of new technology meets programmed retro-fitting of fixed equipment. They say that the useful life is around 15 years. No charge for any of this, but any bets that there will come a day when the customer will have to absorb this cost? The water company is a private business. My guess is that the strategic plan will have the customer paying for this stuff on the next go-around.

In that light, the water company has been seriously soliciting a water line insurance policy from me this year. Those solicitations come in very official-looking envelopes with "Urgent" types of messages in bright pseudo-handwriting on the face of the envelope. The pitch is that since the pipe coming from the street is the homeowner's responsibility, you should insure the possibility that that pipe will need to be replaced. And they have a point. If that pipe fails, it can cost several thousand dollars to replace/repair. I've seen it happen. But it galls me to no end that they want another five bucks a month to provide for that possibility. The water company will absolutely win on that game, assuming that enough homeowners bite. It's like the casino. The House wins.

The same Law of Large Numbers applies to extended warranties at Best Buy and other appliance stores. The House always wins. Unless you drop your PDA in the waste basket at SB's!

I think that the policies on cell phones may be worth the price. I've seen enough phones lost, watered, dropped, or otherwise rendered useless to convince me to buy the insurance. My pal Roy loses those things two at a time.

Go Cardinals! I'm amazed at the uproar on the Kenny Rogers "Smudgegate" by the sports media, and by some former players. It ain't cheatin' if ya ain't caught. And LaRussa gave him a pass. So move on to something else. Please!

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.