Sunday

Hey to all from my Sunday morning home-away-from-home. The people here now ask where I've been whenever I don't show up.

Augie had a successful evening. Regular season and conference tournament champs. Suite. And they had to do it without their starting center who had injured his wrist on Friday night. Now they await word on their D III tournament paring. With their record, they should host as many games as they can win. Good stuff.

Note to 2: The Prez of Augie asked where you were last night. Your presence was missed by others as well.

Even Walmart does the old bait 'n switch. I pulled up for gas this morning and went through the credit card protocol only to learn in the final step that the cheaper, lower two grades were not available on that pump, and rather than wait in line at another pump, I paid 30 cents more per gallon than the price posted on the big sign visible from the street.

This is certainly the nicest day so far in 2008. 50 plus, although a little windy. I'll have to make a choice on riding today. Probably will battle the potholes. I may even try to fire up Margret. And maybe even open some windows at home?

One of the positive by-products of the cold weather has been that the "Check Tire Pressure" warning signal on the Buick self-corrected itself. Interesting. The signal initially came on in August down in KC when it was 100+ for the three days that I was there. Another example of how, if you delay long enough, a problem just might go away. A victory for procrastinators everywhere.

The NYT is opining from on high this week about the lax standards that Harvard has allowed to creep into their culture as a result of the Tommy Amacher basketball hiring. Let me first say that Amacher can't coach a lick. He might be able to recruit, but not necessarily the best citizens. Getting his players to play at a high level is a whole 'nother story. Just ask the people in Michigan. But I do feel better knowing that the Times is riding herd on such a diverse collection of topics critical to the American way of life.

I forgot to mention that my bike ride yesterday was preceded by a required tube change in my rear tire. For some reason, the old tube wouldn't take/keep air when I went to pump it up in preparation for my ride. The valve stem was faulty, which probably means that I bent it when I attached the pump hose. Anyway, it took me 15-20 minutes to replace the tube, which is slow, but I remember 25+ years ago when such an effort was either inconceivable, or a two hour, knuckle-scraping, cussing, bitterly frustrating experience. Of course, that was before quick-release hubs, proper tools, and dozens of flat tires on the road. Necessity truly is the Mother of Invention.

The tire change evidenced a need to get more post-surgery strength in my thumbs. The ol' rubber ball needs to be worked a lot. Still. Even my cruising hold on the handle bars suggested that I am quite a ways away from where I need to be to feel back to 100%.

Does anybody besides me wonder what the heck is going on with Congress that they need to spend so much time and money on steroids/HGH investigations? If they're going to have the WWF testify alongside the NFL, where's Stallone? Maybe they need to get into some stuff on Britney or Angelina or 75% of the rest of Hollywood. Whatever.

Enough for today. Get out there and enjoy it. I am.

BCOT