Thursday

I hadn't planned on writing today, but I had to recognize the big NASCAR news of today: at the end of the season, Dale Jr. is leaving his team, DEI (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.), a team his legendary father formed, and which is owned by his step-mother Teresa. As one writer put it, this is the equivalent of the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

The skeptic in me thinks that the end of the season is a long way away, and a compromise could be reached if Teresa has any sense at all. It's not about money. Jr. wants to win races and DEI hasn't been as good as at least three other teams, each with three or four cars always running up front. In the left-turning world, getting to the checkers is a lot more important than the paycheck. Teresa will be left with the memorabilia sales for Dale Sr., but that market pales in comparison to the numbers Jr. can bring to the table.

It has been almost hot today. 80+. Golick's brats for lunch.

That securities continuing education course this morning was a pain in the keister. It was presented in mostly a video format that had you indicating acceptable responses to various factual situations. (Should appearance on a securities training video be added to an actor's resume?) Hypothetical client requests. Required disclosures. And with a little more technical multiple guess orientation than I had anticipated. If you answered too many questions in a section incorrectly, the program ran you through an alternative set of questions to make sure you got the point. No crosswords allowed.

Busy weekend ahead. Hope everyone is ready to celebrate. Biaggi's at 7:30.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.