Sunday

I'm not saying that this is actually 1. But it could have been her in the recent return of Winter in the TC.

So I was expecting cool temps and rain today. It is cooler, but no sign of rain at this point. They do forecast below freezing for tomorrow night. Again, global warming?

The city of Davenport is seriously preparing for high water from the Mississippi this week. Not truly major flooding of FEMA proportions. Just enough to remind everyone that the river owns the town. They have closed several streets and are using heavy equipment to construct temporary earthen berms in key spots near the main downtown areas. I guess that they have figured out that it is cheaper to spend the money in prevention rather than in clean-up.

The city of Davenport is the largest city on the upper Mississippi with no dike system to protect the downtown area from the annual Spring run-off. City leaders have always decided that the "view" of the river is more important than the damages from flooding. My guess is that at some future date, enough will be enough, and a protection system of some sort will be constructed.

I need to get over to the Lowe's/Home Depot stores today to pick up some yard/garden supplies. I actually read the sales fliers this week. I noticed that the various department stores' ads often used the phrase, "lowest prices of the season". I'm wondering if there are any rules in defining the word "season" as used in these promotions. While the general public may naturally assume that "season" would mean, in this case, Spring, the marketing folks most likely have a more liberal interpretation of the term. Like maybe, this week. For next week, they'll probably say something like, "Take and additional 10% off our lowest prices" for May-day. When they do that, do they mean that the season is over?

On a related point, my prediction for Hy Vee raising the price of their Gatorade-substitute by a quarter was wrong. Within a couple of days of my posting, they raised it 22 cents, from 77 cents to 99 cents. But in a demonstration of weekend Marketing 101, they had a prominent display last night of the same drink at the head of an aisle near the cashiers with it priced at 79 cents, with a notation below the sale price that the item was "regularly 99 cents".

Which brings up the question of the definition of regularly, but that's a challenge for wordsmiths for another day.

I find it interesting that the NCAA basketball Player of the Year, Tyler Hansborough of North Carolina, announced this week that he was staying at UNC for his senior year. Since the tournament final three weeks ago, there's been a growing list of undergraduates from many schools of players fore-going college eligibility by declaring for the NBA draft. Some of these players you may have heard of, some not. All have "the dream" of playing in the NBA. The reality, of course, is money. (And Hansborough has essentially been told, "You're a great college player, but you'll just be another white stiff in the NBA".)

Given the fact that most of these players will, at best, spend years of anonymity on the benches of teams like Golden State, Toronto, and Portland, (or playing with teams in Europe or elsewhere internationally), it makes one wonder about "the dream". But with these no-name players able to earn several hundred thousand dollars per year (and maybe, several million dollars per year), going early is the only economic decision that makes any sense. Just because old f**ts like me have no interest in their profession, the money is there, and it's foolish for them not to take it.

Finally, I've been flustered again with technology. This time with my bike computer. I had to replace the battery, and in doing so, you have to go in and reset the wheel size to match your bike or the readings would make no sense. I, of course, had no idea where my user's instruction kit was, so I had to go to the Internet for the information. Which was really no problem. It was a simple reset. Really. True, it still doesn't work. But it looks good on the bike. Plan B to follow.

OK. Out there doing errands. Y'all have a great day.

BCOT