Saturday

It feels almost Spring-ish today. Sunshine too. But the 9AM spin class was certainly the choice. An outside ride wasn't even considered.

Successful evening at Biaggi's last night. We had at least ten people around a couple of tables at one point. Good times with good friends.

Did I formally announce here that I am "off" potatoes and Classic Coke until Thanksgiving dinner? I'm looking to tone up for Italy and those are a couple of food/drink exclusions that might otherwise add as much as 200,000 gratuitous calories this year. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving.

(I see where Coke has announced that they will be taking the term"Classic" off the drink at some point in the near future. I guess they figure that enough time has passed since their disastrous reformulation experiment that the adjective "Classic" is no longer necessary. Do they even make "New Coke" anymore?)

Liberty School cabernet is a nice, medium-priced wine that is a current fav. Since Biaggi's had run out of some of my regular selections, I had called the assistant manager earlier in the day and asked to run over to Hy Vee and pick up a case of Liberty School for last night's gathering. She did so, but only four bottles which lasted about 1/2 the evening. I told her that she needed to stock more of medium-priced wines, even if they were not overly toney. Paying $40-50 for a bottle that you know costs $17.99 is not a thrill.

A little factoid relevant to the times and the state of Iowa: Kurt Warner, tomorrow's Super Bowl quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, and Zack Johnson, pro golfer (in contention this week and Master's champ a couple years back) are both graduates of the same high school: Cedar Rapids Regis. Suite.

One other point. It may have snuck through in my meanderings that my politics tend to a little right of the left. Since Hollywood and it's stars tend to be quite a bit left of left, I've had to chalk several fantasy friends off my list. The latest is Ashley Judd, whom I have previously placed on the same page as Michelle Pfeiffer. Ashley was quoted this week at an uber femlib luncheon that, "It's so nice to live in America again." I'm wondering how that quote will play in Lexington at the next Kentucky game? Whatever.

Big game at Augie tonight. Wheaton is in town for a rematch. Their All-American is healthy and Augie's got one starter hurting. Hope the home court makes up for it.

Spin in the AM and then IC with 4.

Have a great evening.

BCOT

Friday

Last night got away from me.

The trip back from North Park ended about 12:15AM, which is very late for me. Actual driving time from their gym on the North side of C-town to my house was just over two and a half hours which is pretty good. No pit-stopping, and with the I-Pass, you don't even slow down at the toll plazas.

My planned visit to 4 in IC last night was delayed until Sunday lunch. The Hawks had a home game last night, and I didn't want to fight "the crowd" at The Airliner. 4 reports that members of the team came by the sorority house earlier in the week and pleaded for the girls to attend the game. Pretty sad when a Big Ten school can't get their own students to come follow the team. 4 says that they are basically giving away tickets to get people to the games.

Another bit of marginal analysis. Since I've picked up the spin class schedule, my laundry needs have increased. I'm talking about extra t-shirts, socks and towels that require, on average, an extra two medium loads of washing per week. I'm working on the numbers, but you've got costs for water, detergent, electricity (washer), natural gas (dryer), and, of course, the depreciation on the washer/dryer as well as the clothes themselves. Not to mention the membership fee for Gold's.

And while the Green crowd might normally think that the fitness aspects of the gym are all positive, you have that carbon footprint for the gas/tires/oil/etc. from the car to get to the gym. And the bottled water. Its a problem.

So we have The Big Game this weekend. (Can't call it the Super Bowl here because of copyright issues.) The hype almost always out-does the game. I see in the news that the Big O has admitted an affinity to the Steelers. Do the Cards dare show up and go against the tide? I have a level of interest that exceeds that of those who watch the game for the commercials, but I'll be more interested in the conclusion of the Phoenix golf tournament on Sunday rather than the game.

4 is scheduling her Spring break trip to Beantown to see 3. St. Patrick's Day in Boston? I'm thinking that there may be a party involved.

Biaggi's and a little Tuscan red tonight.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday

From North Park College (I mean University!) on the North side of C-town...

Our ride in was mostly without incident. My pal Pete missed a couple of turns (with the Garmin!), but we arrived in one piece.

The music that they are playing here in the gym for the pre-game warm-up is loud and awful. The kind you hear in a club where everyone who is trying to have a conversation is leaning over to the ear of the person whom they are trying to talk to and screaming, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

More cut backs at SB's. We can see a bit of a downturn in service at the Duck Creek store. They've reduced staff to two baristas until 7:30, and any unusual matter will cause a back-up. More stores to close. Those $3 lattes are getting a little dearer.

And there was a story on the wire today about possible legal proceedings by survivors of the Hudson River plane crash. What a surprise.

My pal Roy is headed down to Orlando tomorrow to check out the PGA products convention. Its basically like the computer convention in LV in December. Anything golf has a booth, from clubs, to clothes, to gizmos, to golf adventures. He goes every year. Flying private. Back Saturday or Sunday. A couple of rounds of golf included. And, the real purpose of the trip as far as Mrs. Carver is concerned, in Vero Beach a condo for future use.

My Russian cleaning lady has surfaced, but will not be over to my place until next week. She was gushing over her trip to Italy. And the wine. Let's hear it for the wine.

BCOT

Tuesday

Thanks for the contributions from the maddening crowd. We're all not that far away.

In looking at my picture options, I found out that I already have a Walgreen's account, and over 400 pics in a Google account that I didn't even know existed. Further evidence that data out there would preclude me from running for Dogcatcher. And that doesn't even consider the tapes on those hidden cameras.

Short tonight.

The one item that does come to mind is the music used by the spin instructors. Since the sessions are designed to be up-tempo, the music is a little faster apace (and louder) than anything that I would normally listen to. By artists whom I don't know (or know vaguely), and whose music has no appeal to me. I actually try to make out the words at times, but it's all guess-work.

At coffee this morning, I brought up the thought and one of the gals threw some light on one of the songs that is a fav of the oh-dark-hundred instructor. I had remembered the refrain, "If you liked it, you shoulda put a ring on it". Turns out that this is a popular song by Beyonce. The gal at coffee said I would really get off on the video.

So I bit, and looked up the lyrics tonight through Google, and I wasn't even close on the entry lines. I had thought she was saying, "I'm a single A", in reference to a finger's ring size. (I don't know how fingers are sized for rings either.) And I couldn't have guessed those other lyrics if my life had depended upon it.

Which makes one wonder, even if it's not Gangsta Rap, exactly how is Hope 'n Change advanced if the entertainment and sports leaders whom the youth admire continually lower the bar for standard language and conduct?

BTW... obeying the male genetic code, I pulled up the video from YouTube. (Is that legal?) It was 3:29 long. I lasted a little over a minute. Bring on Shania and "Man, I feel Like a Woman". She even out "oh-oh's" Beyonce. You can look it up.

So I have a big day tomorrow. Spin. Work. C-town with my pal Pete and the Augie game at North Park College. (I wish it was the mall!)

BCOT

Monday

Big Monday. Time for the Irish to lose their 4th straight. Mike Brey will never be confused with a defensive genius.

I spent most of the day completing an on-line course to obtain another professional certification. I had started it last week, and decided that I needed to take the full dose over the space of no more than a couple of days, rather than take the Chinese waterboarding (oops!) torture over a week or more. Mission accomplished. (Oops again.)

Some post-course observations:

1. I used to turn my nose up at on-line course work thinking that you had to be "there" to truly benefit from the program. Since my attention-paying habits at CPE programs have gravitated over time to near-zero, I'm rarely "there" anyway. On-line, here I come.

2. The program was audio with slides. You had to select the next slide when the audio was done for the current slide. That required a higher level of attention as compared to simply watching a video presentation.

3. Successful completion required passing a post-course, 60 question multiple-guess test. In this respect, the on-line course was/is certainly more difficult than on-site attendance.

4. This test was a little less-refined than some of those securities exams that I have taken in the past. You couldn't come back to a question, or review your answers before hitting the "done" button. Absent that feature, my test-taking skills are further challenged.

5. Why would you go to Pittsburgh to take this program? Even without regard to the marginal costs of travel.

6. The outfit sponsoring the designation has a great scam going. Their marginal cost of me taking the course was in the low two digits. My discounted participant fee was $1,375.

7. The best part of the scam was/is the additional $325 required for my first year membership fee for the organization that I am now a recognized "designee". Suite.

8. Can you say, "University of Phoenix?"

Moving on...

I successfully downloaded pics to a chip and key ones from the family will be in hard-copy form tomorrow. The next level of progression will be to do this all by email with Walgreen's or the Camera Shop. Suite two. (Snapfish is suite three.)

I'm thinking spin the AM again. It makes the nights a lot more productive.

Thanks for reading. Have a great evening/day.

BCOT

Sunday

Still Winter here.

The room was full at spin class this morning. A fairly diverse group. Young, old, male and female. I finally counted bikes. There's 30 in the room, although all 30 are rarely in operating order. Two were down today.

With the SpinNazi vocalizing most of the hour, you don't have lots of time to fall into deep thoughts like you do on the road in the Summer, but I do have a few items of interest pop into the brain in those rare moments of grinding. Today it was the realization that those out-of-service bikes represent the basic fact of life that a good portion of our population can be characterized as "Fixers". A place like a Gold's Gym location must have a Maintenance Man. All that equipment. All that usage. Things break down. Somebody has to fix them.

Some Fixers are self evident: car repairmen, dentists, plumbers, orthopaedists, and the list goes on. Kids under, say, age 15, and the elderly who have become dependent, are generally not Fixers. They are mostly Users. Users are not evil. They just use stuff, and it breaks after a while.

Of course, all Fixers are also Users. Some are able to fix their own stuff some of the time (think car repairs), while others need to use a different Fixer for a fix that they might normally do for another User (think a doctor with a broken arm). All Users end up calling a Fixer for at least a few things.

In our service economy, everyone depends on the IT Fixers. In India, the Philippines, or rarely, down the street. And we are definitely all IT Users.

There are a few actual Producers out there. Can you say OEM? (Look it up!) These people too are also Users. Those who write code for Microsoft are also Fixers.

I'm thinking that this topic has legs. I'm going to think a little more about it this week.

Switching gears...

My pal Bill stopped by this evening to borrow my extra office key. He had left his at the office and the building was locked by others before his return. Anyway, I shared with him my story about my keys being stashed in the Buick, and he insisted on taking a look at the problem. I mean, he wouldn't leave! So I pull the Buick out of the garage, get out, he steps to the driver's side, pushes the electric seat button all the way to the full forward position, opens the back door, and picks the keys off of the floor. No exaggeration. A Fool lives here.

And finally, for those out there looking for a taste of Summer, pitchers and catchers report in three weeks or so.

Spin at 0545. Getting an early start on what will be a great week. Make it so.

BCOT

Saturday

Another cold front moved in yesterday. -5 here this AM.

2 is very excited to report that the U of Iowa is storing its 12,000 piece art collection at the Figge for something like five years. The Museum of Art in IC was flooded last summer, and I guess that they were able to save all of their collection, but the rebuilding of the facility will take time. There are numerous valuable pieces in the collection, and the Figge may be able to parlay the loan into better attendance numbers. For anyone with an interest in art, this is a big deal.

My latest foible is fumbling my keys down between the driver's seat and the center console in the Buick. They're still there. I tried digging them out via the same down route that they fell with no success, and was similarly confounded from the under the backseat route. I'm going to need to do some fishing with a hangar or something. Talk about frustrating.

One of my goals at the office this year is to upgrade our telephone system. The existing hardware is now 20 years old, and the technology is such that none of the new gadgets work on our equipment because the manufacturers assume that no one is still using systems that old. We need to integrate our office phones with our cell phones and our computer/Internet connections. I'm not sure that it will improve our profitability, but it will definitely improve our processes.

The ESPN college basketball Game Day crew is at ND today. The Irish have a 45 game home court winning streak on the line tonight against UConn. Interesting how ESPN has taken its football Saturday game-site concept and applied it to basketball. They usually set up for a mid-morning broadcast on the selected court and then come back on live late in the afternoon as a pre-game show for a 6 or 7 Eastern time tip-off for the featured game. From a fan's perspective, I think it works. Erin is in the house.

One of the more absurd new nuances I first noticed last week over in Wheaton was a few of Wheaton's players doing their pre-warm-up shoot-around listening to Ipods. But the jumping around was such that the Ipods wouldn't stay in place, and one tool in particular spent most of the session re-adjusting the thing after every shot. The price of being cool.

I'm headed over to Augie tonight for their game with Illinois Wesleyan, their biggest rival. 2 has dumped me for a movie. As I noted last year, I'm sure, Illinois Wesleyan is the alma mater of Jack Sikma, a several-time All-Pro player in the 1970's and '80's.

More later.

BCOT

Thursday

This is a new event for me: blogging at The Airliner in IC. How collegiate! 4 is a little late getting in from CR, so I'm being nuevo productive.

I was shocked at early spin class today by a near turn-away crowd. Tuesdays and Thursdays start at 6 bells rather than 0545, and I suppose that that makes enough of a difference for some people. And there's a different leader. Whatever. I'm doing the afternoon class tomorrow with a classic spin-Nazi as the instructor. Wine at Biaggi's will have to get a later start.

OK. Now back in Bettendorf. Airliner pizza was excellent. 4 had had a tough afternoon on the job in CR, and dinner was good therapy (I think). Sparse crowd. Then again, the pizza was not half price like on Tuesday nights.

I'm going to try to set myself up with an Internet site for sharing my pictures. 2 gave me an idea and I just need to take the time to sign up. Details to follow.

For the record, I normally wear a sweat bandanna under my helmet on Summer rides. Actually, I often carry a spare and swap out a wet one for a dry one at rest stops. I'll hang the wet one on the handlebars and let it dry in the breeze for a subsequent swap-out at the next stop. I'm not much of a sweat band kind of guy. Retro or not.

My Russian cleaning lady is MIA. Her substitute has not even called. I'm not happy.

So have a good Friday. I might not be back on line before Saturday.

BCOT

Wednesday

We have the equivalent of a heat wave around here. Mid 30's tomorrow.

I have a small problem with the by-product of my thermoregulation system at spin class. In the last third of the class when my sweat output is at the streaming level, and we're standing up a lot and my bent torso is leaning forward, droplets from my face will fall on the front wheel. After a while, this extra moisture destroys any consistent tension on the wheel and you have to keep cranking more stress on the tension knob to minimize this slippage. More analysis to follow.

For the cycling fans out there (that's you, Revkev), the Tour Down Under started yesterday in Australia. Lance is there with the Astana Team. Astana is sponsored by state-owned companies in Kazakhstan. In reality, the team is the operating remnants of the US Postal/Discovery teams, including the same manager.

Spinning in the AM. Dinner in the PM with 4 in IC.

I read a story today about the betting line in Las Vegas on the Super Bowl. The line has Pittsburgh favored by 7 points. The gist of the story was that the Super Bowl line often doesn't reflect a true evaluation of a professional odds-maker's difference between teams because of the volume of bets places by the general public on the game. The casinos need to protect themselves from losing too much in a mismatch, and there's some sentiment that the Steelers might win big time.

What happened to January? I'm thinking that my two-week birthday extravaganza had something to do with it for me.

Quiet out there.

BCOT

Tuesday

Back at the grind stone.

The Houston trip had few bumps in the road. I don't think that I had previously been in the town. If I ever was, there was no specific memory. The Interstate system in the downtown area was a bit confusing. 2 and I had a difficult time getting out to our first checkpoint for the marathon from the hotel, largely because we couldn't find an entrance for any of the highways passing through (actually, mostly over) the downtown area. Finally, I was able to get on a road heading in the opposite direction, and then did a u-ey at the first exit.

Houston has built a new, not-so-small rental car clearing house a couple of miles from the airport. Phoenix did the same thing a few years back. This means that anyone renting a car now hops a shuttle to the separate facility and processes through their rental company for their wheels. The system basically works, but it does usually add a few minutes to your arrival/departure time at the airport.

Years ago, when volume was lower, the rental car companies all had space near airport departure areas. As the passenger count went up, the airports simply couldn't handle the numbers.

I managed to tick off a TSA supervisor in the QC on our outbound leg. All of our baggage was carry-on. My primary bag, which I normally check, contained a couple of wine bottle openers. (I have a small collection of openers since I usually forget to pack one and often buy one while on the road. And my departure list did not include taking inventory of wine openers in my bag.) One was a traditional kitchen model with two handles that you operated with two hands. They let me keep that one. The other was a waiter's opener with the three standard pieces, the corkscrew, the lever, and the cutting edge. The cutting edge was a problem and that opener was confiscated.

As 2 and I walked away from security, and not very much near anyone, I thought, I voiced a general comment to no one, and certainly not in anger, "What a crock!" A TSA supervisor sitting at a desk at some distance apparently heard me and took exception and made a retort of some sort that I was out of line. I ignored him, mostly because I couldn't believe that he was trying to make something out of something that I had no particular problem with, other than that the opener that they allowed me to keep was/is certainly a better weapon than the one that they kept. Whatever.

For the record, I will note that today is inauguration day. Coronation. Beatification. Salvation. Not a big fan. My TV spent a lot of the day on mute. But the Big O is my CIC, and I accept that. He has a job to do. May he do it well.

Spin class tonight. And plans to do so again in the early AM. As New Year's resolutions fade, a couple of bikes remained open in tonight's class. Augie has a home game tomorrow night. Busy day.

4 started her CR internship today, I think. Any news, Kiddo?

And 3 survived a foot of snow in Beantown this past weekend.

We live in interesting times.

BCOT

Monday

Here we are splitting up this morning at the Houston airport. Actually, the airport's separate rental car center. 1 and 1.1 made it back to the TC on time, but 1 was already whining about the return to sub-zero temps. 2 and I are in a short (I hope) delay to the QCA.

1 and 1.1 are sore, but no worse for wear than the expected results of running a marathon. I'm thinking that an ease-off on training is a good plan.

I'll try to pick up regular entries this week. Travel is a pain.

BCOT

Sunday

I doubt if we will be going back to Houston anytime soon. Two finishers. But nothing close to Boston. Some days you get the bears. And some days the bears get you. The latter was the case today.

Really a nice change of pace from -40 in the upper Midwest. Mid 70's here this afternoon. 2 and I saw 1 all four of our scheduled times without a problem. There were probably less than 7500-10,000 marathoners which meant that there wasn't the congestion on the course. 2 and I had a city map and 2 navigated.

More later.

BCOT

Friday

Another day of bitter cold.

I traded Biaggi's wine for a Gold's spin class tonight. It was cheaper, but not necessarily as much fun.

2 and I have a mid-morning departure for Houston tomorrow. 1 and 1.1 have already checked in.

I'll add from the road in the morning.

BCOT

Thursday

Bitter, bitter cold in the upper Midwest. Maybe -20 tonight. Ouch!

1 begins her journey to Boston via Houston tomorrow. She and 1.1 fly in tomorrow and 2 and I join them on Saturday. Race day in Texas is Sunday.

I'm in recovery from the late night last night from the trip to Wheaton.

Another item of evidence of my elderliness is my inability to distinguish between black and navy when I'm picking out turtlenecks in the morning. Today, I had chosen a black sweater and went to the pile of turtlenecks and consciously compared darks, and picked what I thought was a black one. Later at the office, I noticed in a mirror that my shirt was decidedly navy. Not the first time.

I'm thinking that I need to put a written code on the collar tag to indicate black or blue.

Everybody out there paid their Social Security taxes on the household help? I thought public servants with aspirations all had taken Zoe Baird 101 years ago. Then again, in a time of Change, these little oversights really aren't that important. How could some honcho with the IMF or the Fed be expected to know stuff on complicated things like payroll taxes anyway?

I'm guessing that those folks on the jet that landed in the Hudson River today aren't worried about taxes or their marathon training.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday - Final

Wheaton 79 - Augie 71.

They came out hot at the start of the second half, like 13-2, and we could never get closer than 5 the rest of the way.

We can get them at home in Rock Island if we have luck and play a little smarter. Their All-American killed us.

See you tomorrow. We're back on the road.

BCOT

Wednesday - Halftime

Good game. Great atmosphere.

Who can keep up the intensity?

Wednesday

The blog is on the road tonight, in Augustana's entourage visiting Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. The host Thunder are undefeated coming into this game, and are ranked #1 in D-III this week. If the Augie boys don't come ready to play, it could be over early.

I grabbed a ride with my pal Pete, which is the only way that I would have made the trip. Surprisingly, the roads weren't too bad, and we made the trip easily in under three hours. With the help of a little Garmin device. Although we did have to over ride the instruction on exit from the freeway. They had changed the off ramp configuration and the GPS hadn't quite caught up with the new pattern.

Wheaton is a very competitive D-III school in several sports. Their girls soccer team has won three recent National championships. This facility is very contemporary, with an Olympic pool down the hall and a fully-equipped fitness center in an adjacent section. Very well-presented.

We had another 5-6 inches of snow last night. I broke out the snow blower after spin class this AM, and did the front walks for myself and both my adjoining neighbors, and the driveway for my Perfect Neighbor. By that time, I was too cold to finish my own driveway, and it's still a bit clogged even after clearing the access to the street before heading to the game.

The surgically repaired thumb remains a tender spot in the cold. The circulation just isn't quite there. Then when I went inside and jumped into the shower, the thumbs and fingers had that stinging sensation when exposed to the hot water. It's heck gett'n old.

My friend Rick who joined 2 and I for my Biaggi's birthday party on January 2nd called me from the bar on Friday the 9th when I was in Scottsdale to report that the Biaggi's bartenders were not honoring his request to use "Charlie's glasses". I gave him my sincere regrets, but policy is policy. (In fairness, I don't think that he realized that I had actually purchased the glasses myself.) After the fact, he such a good friend that I probably should have given the bartender clearance for his use. Next time I will.

The game is getting started. I'll file a final report later.

BCOT

Tuesday

No blog today. It's too cold to think.

BCOT

Monday

Snow day in The Quackers. I'm guessing that we received about three inches this afternoon. Maybe more on the way, and then we go into the deep freeze for a few days. I think that I saw where the low one day will be -12. Ouch.

The good news: my Perfect Neighbor shoveled my sidewalk and driveway all the way back to my garage.

Sorry for not adding much to the blog over the last week. The time in Arizona and the two travel days didn't present a lot of time for creativity. From the pics, you can see that we had great weather, and the golf courses were all high grade tracks. The Grayhawk Raptor course that we played on Saturday had been the site of a two-day pro event on Thursday-Friday (won by Mark Calcavechia at 23 under!), and the set-up was humbling. Rocco Mediate (who took Tiger to a play-off in the US Open last year) was on the putting green when we came in from playing the slightly lesser Talon course on Thursday. He didn't request any advice from me.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn & Suites right across the street from the course where they play the FBR Open in two weeks. The TPC at Scottsdale. The Stadium course. The par 3 17th at that course is known as the loudest, most raucous hole on the Tour all year long.

The surrounding commercial area is very high-brow. We couldn't find a Walgreen's anywhere close, and there are any number of exclusive resorts near-by that cater to the visiting golfers and conference-goers.

Private air travel is pretty sweet. The plane was not a jet, but rather a twin-engine turbo-prop. But relatively new and very well-appointed inside. There were six of us as passengers, but there were spots for five others, so we had plenty of room. Plenty of food and drink on board. And there was a DVD system with small screens for each set of seats. They watched a Bourne movie on the way down, and multiple episodes of a previous season of 24 on the return flight. I did crosswords.

One of the little extras on the return trip was that they let the hotel shuttle drive out onto the tarmac and drop us and our baggage at the aircraft rather than lug it through the private terminal and out to plane. Very Pretty Woman-ish.

The bad news upon my return was a flat tire on the Taurus in the Davenport airport parking lot. At 8 o'clock on Saturday night. In the cold and wind. My pal Ron had waited to make sure I was on my way, so he helped me do a NASCAR pit stop, single-tire change inside of 10 minutes. I need to get him a bottle of Scotch in thanks.

The more severe bad news received on Sunday when I went to Tires Plus for tire repair was that it was more than just the tire. As it turned out, a coil spring had broken, which had then punctured the tire. Then when they tried to install the new springs (can't buy just one, you know), they figured out that the struts (which the springs go around) were also done. Long story short: my one flat tire cost north of $700 to fix. Your classic case of the used car going bad. I hope that thing about bad things coming in three's is not applicable here.

I did the Sunday 10 AM spin class, and the 0545 class this morning. There's a little extra bad shrimp from Arizona to get out of the system this week. (We didn't spend the entire time on the course.)

In that vein, we ate one night at a restaurant that had an attached wine shop. If you didn't like the wine on their list, you could literally go across the room and pick a bottle off the shelves for drinking with dinner. Which I did. Basic retail pricing (the J. Lohr was $15+) and a corking fee of $10-20 depending on the bottle. They had a great selection, from the modest to the expensive, and a very glib owner who helped me choose a couple of bottles upgraded from the J. Lohr. Cool.

Finally, I think that my 60th birthday party is over. The staff had one last laugh, decorating my office with over-the-hill and old-fart stuff for my return today. That made the party train last in excess of two weeks. I'm even tired of the yea-hoos. But it was fun while it lasted. Thanks to all who participated.

So have a great evening/day.

BCOT

Sunday

Our second day at Grayhawk. Pretty much perfect.

More later.

BCOT

Friday II

I've had this idea several times recently, particularly after the multiple mis-steps that I had when I went to that first early-morning spin class last Monday. There's been a lot written about life-time "bucket lists", those things that people want to make sure that they do before they check out for their respective after-lifes. In my case, and without regard to my mortality, I need to make a bucket list every time a that I walk out the door.

I think that the popularity of the "bucket list" is a left-wing liberal thing. It sounds good, has a wanderlust sense to it, and elicits a certain euphoria of "getting there". My guess is that a few of the modern-day liberal arts colleges have bucket list courses, maybe even majors. No more of the jocks working on their General Studies degrees. The new focus is on feeling good, achieving, understanding one's self. Develop your bucket list.

What a crock.

But I digress.

Seriously. I make lists all the time. I have a day trip to C-town; I make a list. I do a conference in KC; I make a list. I take a 45 mile round-trip bike ride to DeWitt: I make a list. A week in Tahoe? I start my list six weeks ahead of time. Given my problems on that first oh-dark-hundred spin class, I now have a written list on my counter that I scan before heading out.

One thing that I don't have is a "bucket list" as it is known or regarded in popular culture. The trip to Italy with 2? It came up as a result of Briancon, France being an over-night town on the Giro (Italy) and the Tour (France) in the same year a couple of years back. 2 and I will have a trip to remember, for sure. But I'm not sure in the long run, if it will be any more special than a Friday night at Biaggi's, or a routine basketball game at Augie.

Nothing I do will ever be as special as Christmas Eve at Chunky Cheese, or a day at Sand Harbor.

I may add more to this another time.

BCOT

Friday

Another day in paradise. And, all too frequently, in the desert.

Legend Trails Golf Club.

Back to Greyhawk tomorrow. And then back to reality.

BCOT

Thursday

Greyhawk Golf Club. Talon course.

Great day.

BCOT

Wednesday AM

One of my really good clients couldn't pass up the opportunity to get my attention. (The client is not the clown, but the client got a lot of yucks from the greeting!)

.

More from the road.

.

BCOT

Tuesday

Tomorrow.

BCOT

Monday

Day Two of the spin class experiment. Yesterday's turn-away crowd for the 10AM class became a cozy group of seven this morning for the 0545 Quick Spin. I hate to crank up the exercise routine at that hour. But I'm guessing that I'll be there at least twice a week for The Early Show through mid-April.

My effort to get to class on time was another example of why old people don't change their routines. My phone alarm went off fine at 0523. I was actually up a few minutes early and waited for the ringer. After throwing on my biking gear and jacket, I couldn't find my Gold's pass. I looked over my kitchen counters, and my jacket pockets. No luck. I gave up, figuring that I'd just give them my name.

I jump in the car and take off. Half way there, I remember that I forgot my biking shoes, so I have to make a u-ee and go back for them. My original thin time line is coming apart. And I have to wait for traffic a couple of times, both ways. At five-thirty in the freaking morning!

And the parking lot is packed. I'm thinking that those New Year's resolutions are really kicking in. But the spin class room is almost vacant (as expected), and I still haven't figured out where all the people were at that hour. Anyway, I get there and throw off my sweats, and jump on a bike just as the leader is cranking it up. No warm-up for PC.

The first thing I realized in the first routine was that I left my water bottle in my car. And as hard as the class is, I needed the water bottle. But not today.

To review, in the course of a single effort to get to one class, I lost my gym pass, forgot my shoes, and forgot my water bottle. A well-oiled machine doesn't exactly capture my schtick today.

One consolation later in the day was that I found my gym pass. I had had an Alzheimer's moment and had forgotten which jacket I wore to Gold's on Sunday. The pass was in the pocket I had placed it in yesterday.

Other than spin class, my Monday was pretty ordinary. I did learn that the private airfield in Scottsdale doesn't have a rental car counter open after 6PM local (in my price range). One of the hardships of flying private. The hotel shuttle it is.

Glad to see Revkev back online.

Have a great evening.

BCOT

Sunday

This is not actually the spin class that I attended at Gold's this morning, but the look is similar. I decided that I needed to get off the couch and get started for the year. I'm thinking that 3-4 classes each week over the next 90 days will get me through the Winter with a fitness level ready for the early outdoor season.

There are probably between 30 and 40 bikes in the spin room, and they were all occupied today, with a couple of people wait-listed (to no avail). I'm guessing that New Year's resolutions are responsible for the SRO crowd. But its my recollection that when I belonged to Gold's previously, the more convenient after work and weekend classes all had to be signed-up for a day or two before hand, or you couldn't get a bike. I'm planning on doing at least a couple of 5:45 AM classes each week, which aren't that well attended.

Augie won last night in a so-so game. 4 joined in on the fun. Augie had the opponent well-scouted, and the opposing team's guards (who had been scoring big time) were shut down by the home team's switching, double-teaming defense. The Augie coaching staff consistently out coaches the other schools.

The pro football referee who was pilloried for a mistaken call in a San Diego-Denver game early in the year is reffing one of today's play-off games. The Fates were kind to him as the disadvantaged team had a big end-of-season run, made the play-offs, and actually won their first game last night. The ref had immediately admitted his error after the game, and, of course, took all kinds of abuse from the boxer-clad blogging critics. It looks like the league has given him a pass on any black-listing treatment. That seems like the right result.

SI had a story in the year end edition about some true sportsmanship in the 2008 girls high school track meet in Washington state. The short story is that the 3200 winner was DQ'd by a judge saying that she had stepped outside her lane. The second place finisher who was awarded the win disagreed, and gave the DQ'd girl the first place medal. The other seven girls in the placing did the same thing. And the girl who was given the first place medal placed in another event, and gave that medal to the girl who had given up her eighth place medal in the 3200. (A review by the race officials subsequently confirmed that the girl's got it right and reinstated the original winner into the record books.)

I took ten minutes yesterday afternoon and took the lights off of the front bushes. There's a country song, Redneck Girl, I think, that contains as part of it's chorus, "I leave the Christmas lights on my front porch all year long." I'm trying to stay below that radar scan.

I'm saying that tomorrow is the official start of the New Year. Friday was a orphan day of a sort since, except for shoppers, regular business was at a very low roar. I did get some of the piles in my office rearranged, but plan to do more of the same tomorrow. My pal Bill always does at least a small amount of rearranging of his office furniture, which he did on Friday. I did that once, a few years back. The urge has not returned.

This will be a fun week for me. A couple of works days, then Scottsdale for golf and fun in the Valley of the Sun with my pal Roy. Private air. Resort courses. But just an ordinary hotel, and we'll eat well, but not extravagantly. And I'm pretty sure that we'll keep a lid on the wine costs. This birthday thing is going to wear me out!

More reports as the week comes along.

BCOT

Saturday

Wow. This has been one of those, "Where'd the time go?" weeks. My New Year's was extremely uneventful, and judging from the lack of comments, there were no outrageous stories from the peanut gallery.

Since this is the new year, it wouldn't be right if there weren't a few resolutions to shoot for (or break). I researched the blog for last year's list and found it in the entry for January 13th. Among the goals were Mt. Rose (done), the Turkey Trot (done), TOMRV and RAGBRAI (done in part, as planned), read 15 books (not quite fully done), more photography (definitely done), and efficiency at work (probably not done as well as needed).

So for 2009, here is a short list of to-do's:

1. The Galibier (a historical Tour climb near Briancon, France).
2. TOMRV, the Turkey Trot, and one other organized bike ride.
3. Attain Fiduciary Analyst designation for work.
4. Re-do all yard edging and front landscaping at my house.
5. Do C-town for a Cubs game, and TC for a Twins game.
6. Celebrate graduation in IC with 4.

Another little 60th birthday party last night at Biaggi's. A couple who had not been able to attend the party at my house joined up and the staff managed to find a little ice cream dessert to share. Pretty neat. With the trip to Scottsdale next week, I will have managed to stretch out the birthday celebration into the three week range. Suite!

I haven't watched much of any of the bowl games. I like the fact that several of the winners have been underdogs. With 34 bowl games, played out in the month after the last regular season game, the old argument that a playoff system would keep the "student-athletes" away from class too much is absurd. And who cares if Directional State U wins the Mineke car Care Bowl? And the schools going to these lower-tier bowl games can't possibly come out ahead financially.

If you had a sixteen team playoff, eight teams (the losers) would play only one additional game, just like now. Four others, the second round losers, would have only that second extra game. So you end up with only four teams that have considerable extra playing time. They figured out the money for the basketball tournament. Surely they could do the same here.

My biggest problem with a playoff system is that it puts me on the same side of the fence as many of the hack sports writers/talk-show-hosts, and the Big O.

Here's another prediction for 2009: there will be numerous pull-outs of corporate sponsorships in golf, NASCAR, tennis and various other sports and sports-related events as the economy adjusts to the new reality. Banks and other financial entities will be hung out to dry if they sponsor a tournament, and then won't re-write mortgages. Detroit will be running backwards to keep TARP money. And political grandstanding on these issues will keep the spotlight on any company or executive who doesn't toe the line on frugality.

2 and I are headed over to Augie tonight for the conference opener. Like with the D-1 schools, the conference season begins the real Road to the Final Four.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy New Year! Go Hawks!

I didn't make it to midnight. Surprise.

Any stories?

BCOT