Monday PM

Well, we appear to be back in business with our network. Turns out our back-up system worked, but we needed to by-pass one of the peripheral routers that must have been fried in the power outage on Saturday morning.

We had a cold snap come through over the weekend. Bitter cold going to the game with 2 on Saturday night. I hardly went outside on Sunday. Not quite as bad today.

Big Monday.

The Hawks were awful on Sunday. 4 was in the front row, but I didn't see her. I know Wisconsin is good, but they made Iowa look inept. The announcers were kind in describing Iowa's "rebuilding" squad. Stevie will never be confused with the coaches who don't rebuild, but rather reload. Then again, it is Iowa City, and there is not a long line of Parade All-Americans waiting for their chance to play in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

I finally got on the bike and erg machine over the weekend. It was a long time coming. Now I just have to get some momentum going for the next 60 days to be ready for the outdoors.

My pal Roy and I registered today for the state-required coaching classes through the community college so that he can be a golf coach this year. My roll is to get him to class. I have no plans to coach anything. Ever. The classes will mean that a number of my March evenings will be spoken for. And most will be in Clinton as Roy has travel scheduled for the heart of February when the classes are held in Davenport.

My illness has mostly passed, but I'm not 100% of where I would like to feel. Food still doesn't taste all that good. And Tuscan red is not all that appealling right now either.

Hillary was in town over the weekend. David Broder took a swipe at her in his weekend column for her failure to question the new general in charge of the Iraq when the general appeared before her committee last week. Apparently, rather than ask questions of the general, like other members of the committee, she chose to use her alloted time to give what amounted to be a political speech.

1 had a successful half marathon on Saturday in St. Paul. She and her friend completed the race in under 1.55 which I think is wonderful. She did say it was one of the most poorly run events that she has participated in from an organizational stand point.

2, 3, and 4 seem to be keeping up with some post-holiday season fitness resolutions. February amounts to the "dog days of winter" in maintaining those commitments. Once March, comes, the days get longer and a little warmer, and running outside gets in the equation.

I just did a Wikipedia search on "dog days" and it is mildly interesting. It is a myth that goes back to Roman times when it was thought that heat from the Canis Major star Sirius was partially responsible for the extra warmth in mid-Summer. I was using the term somewhat metaphorically and tongue-in-cheek above as most people do recognize it as a Summer description used when the days get tougher to handle. My personal knowledge would first place it in baseball lore, with the heat, the already long season, and nagging minor injuries all contributing to the challenge of daily games.

Life is like a baseball game. Think of all the terms that are in common usage that come from the game. "The prosecuting attorney through a curve ball at the defense today." "That idea was a home run." "You're playing in the big leagues now, son" "Three strikes and you're out."

I could go on, but I don't want to lose my audience.

Hope everyone has a good week. Remember that written notes of thanks will always be well-received. And buy a friend a cup of coffee this week, just for fun. (If they drink triple-shots of foo-foo stuff, buy the scone instead!)

Be careful out there.