Tuesday

I have become a bit of a geek with my new camera. The Christmas "gifts" included a flash attachment, a tripod, and some extra storage cards. Thrown in was one of those digital picture frames. To facilitate transfer of pics, I bought a mini card reader that I can connect to my laptop with a USB connector cord that allows transfer of data between devices. Suite!

The progression of technology in my world has really had a definitive and impactful progression. Here's a bit of a Top Ten list, in partial order of occurrence:

1. Grade school: The party-line telephone on the farm. #682-2548. USPS.
2. High school: Computers did not exist. Not even a ten-key. The radio was king.
3. College: Paper tape records in computer science class. USPS.
4. USAF: My first ten-key electronic computing machine. USPS. An electric typewriter.
5. Grad school: IBM card programs in computer operations class. The same typewriter.
6. AA & Co. in C-town: Batch processing to an outside service. A computer operator.
7. The 1980's: PC's. Word processing. Mag cards. Truck phones. FedEx.
8. The 1990's: Desktop tax programs. Dot matrix printers. Fax machines.
9. The early 2000's: Cell phones. CD's. Satellite stuff. Email.
10: Today: Wireless every thing.

I had to hurry through this a bit. 2 and I are headed over to Augie for a game and I need to get going. The list could be expanded and refined with interesting details. I might do that later.

Here's a little shout out to 4 as Daughter of the Day. I didn't get her featured on her birthday last week. You 'da girl!

Have a great evening.

BCOT

Monday

Here's a group photo of our annual PV Breakers' lunch from this afternoon. Six of the nine team members were able to make the show. This is a great group of girls who played AAU basketball together from 5th through 8th grade. Judy, Scott and I were the coaches.

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Lindsey, on the lower left, played four years as a starter for the Minnesota Golphers soccer team. They got beat last month in the NCAA tournament by ND in the Round of 16. In South Bend. In OT. On a penalty kick. In 9 degree weather at night on a field that had to be cleared of a foot of lake-effect snow. ND got to the finals later on only to be beaten by North Carolina.

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Ashley, next to Lindsey, played four years of volleyball at the U of Colorado in Boulder. And Alisha, next to me, has played four years of softball at Central College in Pella, Iowa, a perennial D III powerhouse.

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(A fourth girl, Teresa, not pictured, played four years of D-1 soccer at Northern Colorado in Greeley, a member of the Big Sky Conference.)

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4 may be the only Breaker to have run a marathon, but Kelly, in pink, has done at least one half-marathon, and I see her at numerous local races.

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More later.

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BCOT

Sunday

So here are a couple of key pics from the weekend. The top one is from Christmas Eve at 4's birthday party at Chucky Cheese's. The lower one is an end-of-evening photo-op on Friday night after my surprise birthday party. I'll add a couple more in each of the next few entries.

We had good luck throughout the weekend with weather and travel. (3's trip from Beantown being the exception.) The bitter cold broke on Friday and I can even see my driveway now. The melting snow and the steady rain had my sump pump going most of Saturday. A bit odd for December in Iowa.

After this little Holiday Hiatus, 4000 Days will be back in full beginning tomorrow.

BCOT

Tuesday

Happy Tax Birthday To 4 !!!!

We did a little din-din at Azteca. Good time had by all.

Gathering of the clan tomorrow.

Best Wishes to all.

BCOT

Monday

Monday night at Biaggi's. Amanda makes the blog!

I'll try to clean up the presentation later.

BCOT

Sunday

Brrrr! Something below zero. Wind. Blowing snow. Excellent day to stay inside. Or be in Cabo.

I've spent more time cutting snow-ice on my sidewalk, driveway, the office's sidewalks, and 2's street the last two days than I care to document. Suffice it to say, memories of the "ax-n-spade" days breaking pond-ice on the farm have been plentiful.

The headline-grabbing securities fraud case of Bernie Madoff is a current-day example of greed and corruption to the ultimate degree. Here you have an internationally renowned investment guru with A-List clientele (who call in favors to participate in the guy's programs). Consistent returns in up or down markets. Seemingly an answer for everything, even his skeptics. Then the wheels come off, and the losses exceed the GNP of a small country.

My thought this morning is that if Bernie can do it, is NASA working the same script? Maybe 1's been right all these years.

Not!

3 had the excitement of trying (and succeeding) to fly out of Beantown on Friday when many flights (including her own originally scheduled one) were canceled. She got the dreaded "auto-cancel" call at 1AM for a next evening scheduled departure. But her boss let her take the day off, and she was able to battle the system at Logan and finagle a seat on a late afternoon flight. Score one for 3!

4 is headed into C-town this AM to pick 3 up and return here tomorrow. My guess is that the chill will limit their running around on Michigan Avenue. Then again, Water Tower Place is inside.

College football's bowl weeks are in progress. The NFL has games on Thursday nights, and last night as well. Their NFL Network is even hard for me to find on the satellite. This is a similar play to the Big Ten Network that had the stink last year with the cable operators. It makes you wonder on a half-life analysis exactly where the rates of return and the fragmentation of broadcast sports are headed. They've obviously concluded that the old paradigm of the general broadcast network TV deal is dead. But how narrowly do you slice and dice the pie?

This is also related to my lament earlier about the disappearance of the traditional newspapers. Money drives everything, and if they can't make enough at a lower price for a general audience, then they go for a higher price for a more specific viewer. Fundamentally, you have the ad-rate driven media competing with the fee-rates of specialized programming. People always seem willing to pay more for the things that they actually want. Think Disney World. I'm betting that 3 could give us a technical marginal analysis on this, with charts.

Another aspect of this is the fantasy sports angle. I continue to notice (or even start reading) stories in the mainstream sports pages that are literate analyses of make-believe scenarios. I know 1.1 is into this stuff, but I just don't get it. And it is apparently just continuing to grow in participation among the more committed viewers and observers.

Which gets us over to the fantasies of online second life and virtual worlds with avatars (and avatarettes...my word!). I suppose that psychologists use different forms of personality substitutions to "get" to their clients, but I have trouble enough figuring out life in the real world let alone in a second one. Then again, the virtual world can exclude all the nasty things that we have to face and can be designed to be each person's Camelot. Again, just to many moving parts for me to process.

So does anybody out there have an avatar that they want to share?

My Russian cleaning lady came this morning so that I would have a clean house for the Christmas week. I'm thinking that Friday night for FFF at my place.

I just remembered that I can report that my lower level DirectTV unit is back on line. I had been told by a couple of people with whom I had shared my problem that the first thing to do was to hit the "reset" button. This sounded like good advice, and I had actually looked for the "reset" key several times when I had been at that TV over the last week. With no success even finding a "reset" key. Well, yesterday I resorted to the penultimate anti-male protocol and looked in the instruction booklet. Wall-ah! There's not a "reset" key on the hand-held clicker. The "reset" button is in the black box receiver. One "reset" later, and I'm watching HSN and ordering my Big O collector coin set.

For the truly nerdy, the term "reset" is a recurring crossword solution to the clue, "Common alley instruction." As in bowling alley when you want to override the automated pin-setter.

The information available on 4000 Days continues to set new standards for the obscure.

Lastly, the assistant manager at Biaggi's stopped by my table Friday and presented a gift bag that contained a bottle of red and a bottle of white along with a few snacks/treats. (You know when a restaurant gives you a holiday gift that you are spending too much time and money there.) Very nice. The thought was the good news. The reality was the bad news. I popped the cork on the red last night, took a whiff of the bouquet, a very small sip, and immediately re-corked it for re-gifting to 2. If she can drink it, or pass a couple of glasses on to then-to-be former friends, she has a drinking problem. Or a friend has a drinking problem. Easily the worst vino to come out of the Biaggi's wine room.

So hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Thursday

Here's to The Ryan Clan, our Clan of the Day. Breckenridge, Colorado. July 2008.

Another weather system headed in tonight. I'm scheduled for a tax CPE seminar in Cedar Rapids tomorrow. I'm taking the under on that one. Hope the travel gods are good to 3 on her return to C-town tomorrow night.

This global warming thing has me worried. Vegas. N'Orleans. I'm thinking that these anomalies happen pretty regularly. I believe that mankind has responsibility, but that might be the easy answer. I bet the dinosaurs never saw that meteor coming.

We had a Christmas luncheon for the office today. Fairly low-key at a nice place on the Illinois side. Word that I hear out and about is that many companies have cut back on Christmas parties, year end bonuses and other truly discretionary expenditures. (Personally, I've never had the same level of interest for the holiday parties that I have had for the April 15th celebration. The grinch lives.)

My basement TV is on the fritz again. I'm wondering if that DirectTV receiver is to blame. My main level unit is fine, as is the unit at the office. Anyway, I listen to the basement TV in the mornings when I'm getting ready for work. So without the satellite signal, I have it tuned to the local NBC outlet. They now have an hour and a half prelude to The Today Show, and I swear that their content is about 12 minutes in length that is on a permanent loop. And the weather guy is bad the first time through it. And doesn't get any better on subsequent renditions.

Actually, what they do on that early show is similar to the prior evenings readings. They now have half hour local news at 5, 6 and 10. If you make the mistake of watching or listening to all three shows, you can almost echo the stories word-for-word by the 10 PM presentation. It's no wonder that media companies are in trouble. Their broadcasts insult the intelligence of their audiences.

Add this poor quality of product to a broken business model, and you have to wonder what the world will end up with in 10 or 15 years. Wireless everything, I'm sure. Will a traditional newspaper even exist in the USA?

So the family travel starts tomorrow. Be safe. Be patient. And...

BCOT

Wednesday

No blog today. Surrogates welcome.

BCOT

Tuesday

I think I just need to drink faster or longer.

Snow day today. And cold. They say that salt doesn't have any melting effect when ambient temps are below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm guessing that we will have ice-packed streets for a few days.

Here's a Top Ten list on all time favorite warm-up events:

1. The pop-belly stove in the kitchen on the farm. Circa 1955.

2. The electric heaters in the milk house in the barn. Circa 1960.

3. The mid-mountain ski lodge at Arapaho Basin, Colorado. Circa January 1980.

4. Aunt Martha's kitchen upon ski trip return. January 1982.

5. The electric heater under the sink. Scott Street Davenport, Circa 1986.

6. Our first LP gas furnace in the farm house. Circa 1958.

7. Any car, YMCA or coffee shop. Turkey Trot. 2004.

8. Living room fireplace. Century Heights Avenue. 1995-current.

9. Vanderveer skating pond lodge, Davenport. Circa 1991.

10. My couch. Nice little electric heater. Tonight.

In other news...

I've never been a Paterno fan (or hater), but come on already! The guy's eighty-freak'n-two and they give him a three year contract extension! Eighty-two year olds pay their rent month-to-month. They buy their paper subscriptions week-to-week. They shop for tomorrow. I don't get it. Make him a saint. Name the field after him. But punch the guy's AARP card and send him to Sun City.

Happy tax-week birthday to 4. She's down to a semester to go.

Have a great evening/day.

BCOT

Monday

If I had heard of 1's Christmas tree follies, I had an Alzheimer's moment and forgot. Glad this year's experience worked out better. (For what its worth 1.1, I had Sue decorate a plant pole in our apartment the first year that we were married. I'm pretty sure that that was the last year that I had any decision-making responsibility with regard to Christmas trees.)

We're in the Deep Freeze here tonight. The front came in last night, first with cold rain, then freezing rain, then snow. Then cold. More snow is headed in tomorrow. Hello Winter.

Anyone planning to head to Hawaii to see the Irish in their bowl game? Right.

The next problem to ponder is, "How long does it take an open bottle of wine to go bad?" Consider that it is not uncommon for better sense or time to come into play and a newly uncorked bottle is not fully consumed, and the cork goes back on. Since I usually drink red wine, my questions focus there. I suppose that the same applies to the whites.

I'm not sure if there is an exact term for the process or not. Spoilage? Putrification? Gone bad probably says it well enough.

There's probably some math at work here as well. For bottles costing less than $10, there's probably an FDA (or ATF?) warning on the bottle that says that it needs to be consumed within two hours of opening. For $15 bottles, there may be a 24 hour window. For $30 wine (which I have little experience in unless my pal Roy has been involved), the time frame may be out there a little further.

This whole hypothesis is a little curious since the sommelieres are always asking if you want the bottle to "breathe" a little before pouring. And when you are hosting a wine party with the wine being butlered, they will commonly "decant" a number of bottles into a decanter for ease in filling several glasses at a time.

There's probably another variable involved with how well the bottle is recorked. And yet another on how long the bottle has breathed before it is "saved". (I'm wondering if the opacity of the bottle's glass is a factor as well?)

My experience is that anything past three days is anathema to my taste buds. If it was any good to start with.

Then you have the occasional bottle that doesn't quite meet your expectations, and you recork it after a single glass and set it aside for later use. Later use really doesn't happen very often at my house unless 2 stops by, and I unload the pour (sic) performer on her (with full disclosure).

In their later years, Grandma and Grandpa H would buy a bottle of red wine (can you say, "Mogan David?") for holiday meals when the Left Coast crowd would be in for a visit. It was rarely fully drained, and the remnants ended up in the refrigerator, usually for several weeks. I'm guessing that it eventually made its way down the sink.

I'm sure that Google and Wikipedia have a perfectly scientific explanation for all of the above. I didn't check.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

Funny day here. Warm enough for runners to be out in shorts. Windy. Rain. And we're talking single digits temps tonight.

The Augie game last night was just so-so. The opponent was a winless team that played with a lot of emotion, and the game was close most of the first half. The Augie boys were sluggish and played down to the competition. My guess is that the locker room needs a new coat of paint after the coach's halftime comments, as they came out and did a little 13-0 number in the first couple of minutes of the second half. And coasted home. We left with a little less than 10 minutes to go.

I took Margret out for a spin this afternoon, and left her in the third stall over at Mom's. This gives me garage space for my regular cars. I walked back on the new sidewalks that the city paved this Fall, which I think will get a lot of use in the years ahead. The demographics of Bettendorf residents suggest a fitness orientation, kids, and dogs/bikes.

It occurred to me on my walk back that I missed the "thinking time" that I have during the Summer on my bike. When you're out on even a relatively short evening ride of 15-20 miles, you have a lot of time to consider the news of the day, or dream dreams, or calculate the square root of the distance you traveled in the last four minutes.


This in contrast to my mental experience when running, which is a simple exercise to determine how much longer the pain will last.

Here is a pic that I just got from 2 of her first Christmas tree in her first year in her first house. I am not responsible for the slightly blurry image. Me thinks that her phone was moving when she clicked the shot. Pretty amazing technology. She texts me the message. I email it to my Yahoo account, copy it into my laptop, and then upload it into Blogger. Very cool.

And to the right is my very iffy picture of my two-bush Christmas light display. I had to take the pic from inside my car because of the downpour. (I'm a little worried about ice by morning.) It took all of five minutes to hang the lights, but it was almost an hour beforehand to untangle them and search for burned-out bulbs. I think when they were last up a couple years ago, there were several sections that never lit because I didn't test them in advance.

No Aunt Martha, I do not regularly read the NYT. I will pick up a section occasionally when someone has left it at SB's. I read the local paper and The Wall Street Journal most days, and USA Today a couple of days a week. And several business web pages.

The fact that the NYT Public Editor has to write an analytical column this weekend to consider the question as to whether the murderers in Mumbai (Bombay) should be called terrorists in NYT stories on the event is evidence of political correctness run amok. See www.nytimes.com and click on the Opinion box in the mid-page menu.

I thought that Susan's Estrich's column in today's papers was a bit of self-serving tripe, suggesting that the work of Old Media reporters was the core substance for analysis of politics, government, the arts and culture. Her work is located at www.creators.com
(Don't confuse my dismissal of Old Media as any endorsement of New Media. They all drink from the same cool-aid.)

Lastly, have my readers noticed the daily email from e-tailers? I signed up for a Gap card and a Kohl's card a couple years back, and gave them my yahoo address on the application. Then I ordered a couple things on line from other places, and all of a sudden, I'm getting sometimes two emails a day from each store's auto-email servers. I'm thinking that that methodology has got to be cheap advertising, and probably has good $$$ returns. It really doesn't help me when I'm doing most of my shopping on Christmas Eve morning though.

Stay warm. Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

Just a few lines before I head over to the Augie game with 2. I've had a busy day with work, and a work-out. All on a body getting over a little bit of bad shrimp at Biaggi's last night.

The news out of Ames is that their football coach is headed to Auburn. I guess the rationale is that his 2-10 record this year is not indicative of his potential. Whatever. I'll be surprised if he lasts three full years in Alabama. Those people demand victories. Now.

(The former Iowa State coach is the line coach at Florida this year. He'll probably get a shot at another head job too. He actually won at ISU.)

The political mess in Illinois is not surprising many people in this area. Its almost SOP in the state.

The tough economy continues to make headlines in NASCAR. The Watkins Glen road course race lost its primary sponsor this week, and the Petty's released Bobby Labonte from his driving contract with the 43 car. The 43 lost its primary sponsor (Betty Crocker/General Mills) for 2009, so the Petty's have no primary sponsors for either of their cars for next year. They've been rumored to be in merger talks with another mid-level team. Lots of lay-offs on several teams. Future funding from Ford and GM absolutely in question. It will be an interesting year.

So my goal is to get back on to a more regular blog schedule starting tomorrow AM.

BCOT

Friday

This has been a challenging week. 3 advised me this AM that I had been negligent to my cast-of-thousands readers. Of course. The lions and tigers (and sharks) kept me on my toes. Still lots to do.

2 and I shared pizza with 4 at The Airliner in IC on Wednesday evening, on our way to the Augie game in Mt. Vernon (20 miles north of IC). I'm thinking that 2 went to the game to get the pizza and the popcorn.

My Tuesday evening was taken up with a visitation/memorial service for a client's 20-something son who passed away after a 5+ year battle with cancer. It was a huge gathering. Visitations are never much fun, but when the decedent is young, its even harder to process.

(My snow blower did come in handy on Tuesday night. The blower started on the second or third pull. Pre-planning worked. I did my dis-abled neighbor's driveway, but not mine! The Taurus and the Russian cleaning lady's car blocked me from doing my own.)

And my pal Roy had the other side of his heart roto-rooted on Tuesday as well. Angioplasty for those into technical terms. Three stints. He gets bulk pricing. All's well. He was back at coffee on Thursday AM.

I'm not sure which drama interests me least, the Big Three bailout, or the Illinois governor's arrest. Both situations are saturated with politics, greed, corruption and players trying to avoid the spot light. Can it be a surprise if the Big O (and his chief of staff) get tainted as the layers are pealed back on the scandal?

So I am spending my lunch hour at the Speedy Lube with the Buick. (And "speedy they ain't.) Denying any interest in additional filters, flushes or fluids. There was a time before marriage (and certainly before kids) when I would save the $20 bucks and change my own oil. But you always had to dispose of the old oil (and filter) and it was always a mess. The hassle factor is way higher today.

Iowa-Iowa State men's basketball tonight in IC. Can't say that I know many of the players on either team. Both have had decent seasons thus far, but we'll see what the real deal is once the conference seasons start after January 1st. The bigger schools all seem to come out of December with 10+ wins against so-so competition (and lots of home games). Winning on the road in the league (whatever the league) is always an iffy proposition. Augie has the same problem in D-3.

I doubt if I get back to this before tomorrow. Work is a beach.

BCOT

Monday

I consider myself a fairly well-read individual, with an above-average vocabulary. I have no recollection of ever seeing the term "sclerotic" used in any way in any story any where. This week's BusinessWeek ran a big story about the problems in India, and the sub-title made reference to the country's "sclerotic"political leadership. I had no clue. Finally looked it up and it means "hardened". Doubtful if it will make my normal speakage (sic).

Equally distressing from the same article was the realization that all this talk about the Indian city of Mumbai was actually about events in Bombay. They made this name-change over 10 years ago. Missed it entirely. Does that mean I've been drinking mis-labled Bombay gin for a decade?

Then I had to check out the regional geography on Maps because it was my recollection that Pakistan or Bangladesh or one of those places actually had locations on either side of India. Well, Pakistan did have a West and an East state, but East Pakistan became Bangladesh. In 1971. What planet have I been on the last 40 years?

I've commented several times in the recent past on particularly bad days in the stock market. Today was an "up" day and a little easier on the faint of heart. Lots of uncertainty in the future though. Can all the sure-to-come bad news already be "baked in" to today's stock prices? I don't think so. That doesn't mean that we couldn't have a little further run up in the near-term. But I think that the averages will chase downwards again before we get a jump beyond 10 or 10.5.

That advice, a gold card, and a buck and a half will get you a grande at SB's.

The Big Three bailout remains in the news. The Big O makes not-so-veiled references on the Sunday talk shows that the GM guy may need to go. Barney, Harry and friends all have their own wisdom. Any bets that whatever the bad result, it will be Dubya's fault?

I'm not sure if this is a case of Murphy's Law or one of the anti-Murphy's Law. The forecast calls for some snow accumulation tomorrow so I hauled out the blower from the back of the garage tonight to see if it would fire up. I poured in a guesstimate of the gas/2 cycle oil mixture, pushed the primer several times, and gave it a go. With no snow to plow, it came to full life on the second pull. In year's past, usually under the duress of several inches of snow on my drive way, the thing has frustratingly failed to start until a visit to the tune-up shop at the hardware store. Maybe this means we'll have a low-snow Winter.

Finally, with today's new stand price increase to $1 for USA Today, I am officially a non-buyer. Another sign of trouble in print media. Relatedly, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy today (carefully excluding the Cubs and Wrigley Field). Will the venerable Gray Lady be next? Do I hear a "TARP, TARP, TARP" refrain echoing from the chorus?

Have a great evening/day. Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday II

The pics on the separate post below were taken on my street up by the high school this morning on my way back from coffee. The deer herd within the city limits continues to be a bit of a problem. They have authorized bow-and-arrow hunts in recent years, but I haven't noticed any decline in numbers. You can argue that we're poaching on the deer's turf (which we kind of are), but reality is reality, and this boy (or girl) needs to head for the hills if he (she) wants to see Christmas 2009.
Here's a little shout out to 3. This was taken at the QC airport last week as she was headed back to Beantown. By making her return on Saturday, she avoided the big rush (and some iffy weather), on Sunday.

We do need to make a commitment to take some family pics over Christmas. Maybe at Chunkee Cheese? The Canon has a timer so we can all get into the picture this year.

I've had this thought recently about words with more than one distinct meaning. You run into the situation in crosswords quite a bit when a good author wants you to think outside the box. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

1. Mean: as in, "She is being mean", and "I really mean it".
2. Deck: A deck of cards. "Let's eat on the deck".
3. Milk: A glass of milk. "He knows how to milk an injury".
4. Board. The school board. A board fence.
5. Base. An Air Force base. The base of a column.
6. Blue. The blue sky. "How blue am I".
7. Still. A whiskey still. "He loves her still".
8. Match. A tennis match. "He lit the fire with a match".
9. Club. A tennis club. "He hit the ball with a club".
10. Flag. A flag is a banner. "At mile 18 she began to flag".

These are called homonyms, since they are spelled the same way but can have different meanings. (This is in contrast to homophones which are words that sound the same but are spelled differently.) So this is not exactly particularly insightful or all that meaningful, but to an amateur linguist, it is at least mildly interesting. It can get a little better when the word has meaning(s) as both a noun and a verb. See Wikipedia under homonyms if you want more education.

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. I've never studied much on the facts and history associated with the Japanese attack, but from the Wikipedia main page on the topic, there's been a huge amount written about the event over the years. One theory that has been widely debated is that FDR was actually aware that the attack was imminent, but he did not mobilize defenses in order to bring public support behind a declaration of war. The archives on this theory are located on a grassy knoll in Dallas.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Sunday

Saturday

So still Winter here. At least we have a little sunshine today.

In a weekend full of a variety of sports stories, the retirement of Greg Maddux should garner lots of headlines. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer in five years. These pics reflect his tenure with the Cubs and the Braves, although he finished his career with the Dodgers and Padres. (I wonder which cap he'll wear for Cooperstown?) For much of the '90's he defined "The Art of Pitching", living on the corners, befuddling hitters (and umpires). He's a guy in that select group of people whom I might walk across the street to meet.

The Wall Street Journal ran a story today about the health care hardships different people have encountered in the shrinking economy. When companies go into bankruptcy or just shutter their doors, benefits will often just stop. For an employee in the middle of treatment (think pregnancy), its not like the condition goes away. The financial impact can be huge. More stories are sure to follow as the economy goes further into the tank. The Big O will not have a bailout solution for everyone.

Our health insurance at work is through a major carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but we get rated as a small group. Our 2009 rate quote came in last month at a 40% increase. I think the monthly premium for a family-covered employee this year was in the $800-900 range. Do the math. (I ended up saving a couple hundo per month in 2008 by going to single coverage in the group plan for myself and buying a stand-alone policy for 4.) I agree that there needs to be reform in health care, but I don't support nationalizing the process. If the TARP and Big Three hearings are examples of Washington's leadership, spare me.

Call me old-fashioned, but can't a rich, professionally successful, good looking guy run off with a young hottie rather than some quirky over-the-hill paparazzi target? I couldn't pick a Madonna song out of a multiple-choice test with a single foil, and her look to me has always been more scary than sexy. So he leaves his wife and young kids. By Hollywood standards, its a minor offense. And I suppose there are some Boomer guys who had Material Girl fantasies. But I thought that the standard trophy wife was a generation or two younger rather than one generation older. How long will it take for A-Rod to wake up?

And exactly what is Kabballah? Do they sell sports equipment too?

Tough day for the Corps of Cadets against the Midshipmen today. (Although Army did win the fashion show on uniforms.) I like to see all of the academies win. They truly do have the Best and the Brightest. It never bothered me much when the USAF ran off those wins against ND.

I'm off to Gold's to start the drill. Now I just need to figure out a short term goal to justify going through the drill.

Have a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Winter is here. The snow from Sunday has pretty well stuck around, and we got an additional 2-3 inches on Wednesday. Now, a cold front has come in and we're looking at single digits tonight.

This guy is complaining about missing the memo to head South. On my front tree with the new Canon.

My really nice-guy next-door neighbor was diagnosed with a bulging disk in his back last week. Bummer. He's been considering retirement, and I actually met with him last month to help him and his wife with some of the pension numbers. And he's a guy who is always outside, working in the yard, doing a project in the garage, or tweaking something on his truck. It looks like he's going to be on the shelf for a while, so I (gladly) become his sidewalk and driveway snow clearer. I need to fire up the blower. The shovel is OK, but we're talking several linear feet now.

I supplemented somebody's bottom line today as I signed up for an additional $12/month sports package with DirectTV. For some reason, DTV's normal expanded package of channels included ESPN, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, and ESPN 2, but not ESPN U. And the last couple of Iowa games had been on ESPN U. Of course. Add to it the fact that the expanded normal package also did not include the other Comcast regional sports channels, other than Chicago, and I figure that my marginal cost was worth it.

Since the marginal cost of adding me to the user list was the sunken cost of some computer program time (I signed up online), DTV has a marginal benefit of $12 per month less the contract fees to the various channels (which are zero-cost marginal benefits to those folks as well). Everybody wins incrementally (provided I watch, and feel good about, a game or two each month).

My general marginal costs were also increased today by a Winter season subscription to the local Gold's Gym. I figured I needed a destination (other than my basement) to keep up a fitness regimen over the next four months. I sweet-talked the clerk to piggy-back 2 on to my membership with no entry fee and with a fee of only $20 per month. The combined charges were very reasonable (especially considering 1.1's one-day fee over Thanksgiving). So we're both in there until April.

Here's a little shout out to 1 as Daughter of the Day. This pic was taken last Saturday when she and 1.1 left for their return to the TC. She's got a plate-full going these days with teaching full time, assistant varsity girls b-ball coach, marathon training, wife and Lucy-watcher. The hours get pretty well consumed, and that's when everything goes right. You're the best, Kiddo!

And just for yuks, here's a view of 1.001 getting ready to head North. Is this the first "pet" to make it on 4000 Days?

3 reports that the landlord is sending in the exterminators. There's film out there recording the last visit of the creatures. In case anyone is interested.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday

The thief has struck again.

Craig Wilson in his USA Today column today offers examples and fluff on the 6 Word Biography. See www.usatoday.com and go to the Life section.

Maybe mine should be: "My random thoughts. Craig Wilson's inspiration."

BCOT

Tuesday

I thought my last Top Ten list might arouse some response.

I hear around the vine that 3 had another visit from the American cockroach. Hardy creatures in Boston.

2 and I went to the Augie-Ambrose game last night. Augie killed 'em. Not much of a crowd, which was surprising. I think that the difference is cultural. Which takes time to develop and sustain. It's not so much about the players as it is the system. The Augie coach has it figured out. And his players have bought in. Of course, good players make a difference too.

Then there's Plaxico Burris in New York. Everyone needs a Glock at the club.

More tomorrow.

Bcot

Sunday

Hello Winter! A scene out my front door this morning.

Fortunately, 1 and 1.1 took off for the TC before noon yesterday, and 3 departed for Boston on a 5:30 on-time flight last night. I really don't think that today's weather is all that serious, but with the number of folks on the road, today is a good day to be home.

Lots of positive reports on Thanksgiving. Good food. Great company. No unexpected surprises. (Including the massacre at The LA Coliseum last night.)

I'm liking the way that the Thanksgiving Day weekend fell this year compared to 2007. Remember, last year, the fourth Thursday of November was as early as it could be on the calendar, and there was a full week of November work days in the week following Thanksgiving Day. That made the Christmas shopping season go on forever. With tomorrow being December 1st, it just "feels" like this is how the holiday season is supposed to flow.

Anybody else get the sense that the early season college basketball tournament schedules are in new territory? The rules seem to have changed as the top teams have abandoned the Great Alaska Shootout. At one time that tournament was the premiere event, along with the Maui Invitational. This year, Alaska drew the likes of Hampton (Hampton?), Northern Illinois, Western Carolina and San Diego State. Maui is still strong (like, who doesn't want to go to Hawaii?), but a couple of other new tourneys seem to have bled off the other big name talent. Times change.

I just saw the Sony HDTV commercial that has the San Diego Chicken on a panel with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Payton Manning (along with a couple others). Has there been another mascot that has achieved such widespread recognition? Let's do a Top Ten List.

Most recognized mascot (or mascot-like) in sports with cross-cultural acceptance:

1. The San Diego Chicken. This guy appeared everywhere. And generated a highly publicized law-suit when he broke away (or was fired) from the Padres. We saw him years ago at John O'Donnell in Davenport at a minor league game.

2. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. No explanation required.

3. Uga, the Georgia Bulldog. They've been using a real dog at the U of Ga. (thus, the name) for 50-odd years. He is ugly.

4. Herky the Hawkeye. OK, a little provincial, but he does make a lot of appearances in Iowa. And 3 dated one several years ago.

5. Florida State's Seminole Indian. Around the Midwest, Chief Illiniwek from the U of Illinois is a little more well-known, but Max Osceola (news to me as well) has a national following, largely due to the civil rights arguments associated with the use of Native American culture in contemporary sports. Whatever.

6. The Oscar Meyer Weiner. Again, no explanation required. Well, it doesn't exactly represent a team, but it is a great mascot.

7. USC horse and rider. This is a little hard to take, but with the Trojans having been one of the most dominant football teams in recent years, this pic has seen a lot of air time.

8. Tie. The AFLAC duck,the Geico gecko and the Budweiser Clydesdale's. I'm not sure why/how/who came up with these two animals being the faces of a couple of insurance companies, but they definitely work. The horses have surely been in a parade in every town in the country.

9. The Coors Light twins. A little weak here, but I forgot to put these two in my comments on 4's list of sexy athletes. They were good for about one season before they became a little over-exposed. So to speak.

10. Donald Trump. Look, he's a caricature of a real estate mogul with diverse business and entertainment interests, sponsors various sporting events, and is generally considered as representing a variety of excesses. And for the right amount of cash, he'll speak at your meeting and share his wisdom. (See also, Bill Clinton.)

So obviously there are few rules with regard to the inclusion on this list. Actually, after the first two, everything else was a stretch. Feel free to add your submissions.

Hope everyone can get their lives in order for December. You're about outta time.

See you online.

BCOT

Friday

The Turkey Trot was a success, at least for Old Dog. 58:47. Room to spare.

A couple of photo-ops.

More later.

BCOT

Tuesday

I had good intentions of posting on Sunday, but it just didn't happen.

The Augie game on Saturday night was exciting, but ended in a bad result for the good guys. A five point loss in OT.

This is the new hanging scoreboard (reflecting the halftime score and the time remaining in halftime). Very cool. Although not quite as easy to read at this point as the old scoreboard that required a redirection of vision, but not a straining of the neck to look upwards.

The halftime entertainment remains a bit iffy. A girls dance team at a religious-oriented school has some choreography challenges given the contemporary norms in song and dance. (Those American Music awards recipients last weekend were all outside of my knowledge-base except for the country groups.) At least the costumes for this performance didn't look like they came from Strippers-R-Us.

The college gave recognition to a couple of Trustees whose companies made special contributions to offset the costs of the scoreboard, new seating, and general refurbishment of the gym. My pal Roy also was recognized, but quietly after the game (at his request). I jumped into the picture to add flavor. What do you think of the new jacket?

2 and I went to the Augie game tonight as well. The result was better, but the competition was quite a bit lower. It should be a good year for the home team. They're fun to watch.

Hope the travels for 1, 1.1 and 3 go safely tomorrow. I'll make sure that we have some good vino for the lasagna at Mom's.

BCOT

Saturday

A little Saturday afternoon action at SB's.

I'm meeting my pal Roy for din-din, and then a trip over to Augie for the first home basketball game of the season. The defending D-III champ is in town. They've had a re-hab of the Augie gym over the Summer. The building is named after Roy's dad who contributed the money for the original construction 25-30 years ago. I'll take some pics for posting tomorrow.

The shoppers are getting a head start this afternoon on next Friday's official launch of the holiday shopping season. 53rd street was in gridlock at the light to the theaters. Duck Creek parking is a joke. There is a recession going on, right?

The local holiday season event called the Festival of Trees kicked off today with a parade in downtown Davenport. They usually have 12-15 large helium-filled character balloons like this one to give the parade a bit of distinction. I've never been down to watch it. 2 over sees a function at the museum during the parade that allows guests to view the parade from the comfort of an inside perch. I suppose if they did this when the girls were little I may have made the effort for their benefit. Or not.

I did 5.3 miles today just to give myself the knowledge that I in fact could do 5 miles come Thursday. (1 did 16, but my motor has gone way beyond warranty.) My route ended with the last 1.2 into a southerly breeze that reminded me that it was not July anymore. My goal of under 60 minutes remains realistic.

I'm thinking that "running my age" in each year's Turkey Trot may be an acceptable parameter for the next few years, particularly since I dislike running so much. This method gives me the built-in measuring stick that allows me to exceed the one hour limit without abandoning a goal that requires a lot of effort.

In golf, "shooting one's age" is considered quite an accomplishment for most retirees. Consider that most of these guys are in their sixties and seventies (with an occasional eighty year old tossed in), so 75 for a 75 year old would be a real good score, even if he used the ladies tees.

Minnesota lost to ND in women's soccer last night 1-0 in OT on a penalty kick. Ouch.

They had to plow a foot of snow off the field in order to play the game. South Bend is susceptible to "lake-effect" snow that rolls off of Lake Michigan. (I may have reported here or elsewhere in the past a tongue-in-cheek "river-effect" snow coming off the Mississippi. That phenomena does not exist.) Basically, you have cold winds blow across wide expanses of warmer water, pick up moisture, and then drop the resultant snow on the land just off the lake. With prevailing winds this time of year being northwesterly, South Bend is in the perfect spot for these snows. I remember it well in my previous life.

3 's in the Big Apple for the evening. 1's over in DM for the Christening of her friend's baby. 4's hoping for a win in the TC, and 2 will be over at Augie. The fam is on the move. Have fun, but...

BCOT