Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wednesday

Well, today was notable for me awakening to an alarm ringing before 5 bells. I mean, that is early. The plan was to join another spin class participant for a 30 minute, pre-class workout beginning at 5:15. Ouch. But it did allow me to leave the regular class a little early and get to coffee before 7. Small pleasures.

Quick trip over to IC, but no report yet on HOOPDRM's fix. My early line is that it will be a $625 minimum, with an option to go to $960. Just a thought.

Tried to find the beatification ceremony tonight, but couldn't.

My next effort here on 4KDays, beginning tomorrow, will be some interviews that I have conducted in my second life (virtual world) which should be a little more entertaining than my recent creativity. First up will be Elvis Presley. A hunk, a hunk, a hunk of burnin' luv.

BCOT

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tuesday

Only a couple of paragraphs tonight. My laptop is in the shop to vanquish the worm that put a permanent deactivation code on the anti-virus system. The IT guy called late this afternoon and said that he had purged the problem, but he was going to check it one more time. (Without jinxing him, he did say the same thing when he "fixed" it last week.

4 has a car problem in IC and I need to intervene tomorrow. Moms get the calls about life and the boys. Dads get the calls about the cars. Pick your poison.

Swine flu is yet another reminder that this custom of shaking hands all the time is for the birds. (Avian flu reference unintended, but Fruedianly relevant.) Given all the headlines in today's news sources, anyone who is shaking hands is taking on unnecessary risk. Declining a thrust-out hand is not a sign of disrespect. It's self-preservation.

I'm off to mow the field of grass also known as my yard. Early spin tomorrow, and then maybe a mid-day trip to IC to sort out the problems with HOOPDRM. Life truly is like a box of chocolates, Forest.

BCOT

Monday, April 27, 2009

Monday

Golf outing today. Actually a pretty nice day, somewhat against the forecast, and I rode the entire round with my friend Bill, a nice bonus.

They do these things almost every Monday between now and Labor Day as fund raisers for different organizations. The way most outings work is that they get a primary sponsor to pay the discounted greens fees to the course, then solicit companies to be "Tee Box" sponsors, "Putting Green" sponsors, and "You-name-it" sponsors, which for a price, gets your name on some tacky sign some where on the course. And trust me, guys on a golf outing pretty much pay no attention to the names on the tacky signs.

And each golfer is usually paying a buck twenty five or a buck fifty for the privilige of duffing around the course, usually in a cool five hours or so. What a deal. But don't forget the free soda.

My goal is to disregard politics during the month of May. What I think or opine has no bearing on real outcomes, so why get upset over that which you have no control? 2 stipulates that you can create a habit if you do something for 23 days. If I'm successful, by 1's birthday, I'll be totally without interest in American politics. It's a thought.

The ND head shed is finding the doo-doo over their commencement speaker a bit sticky. A pro-life Harvard professor who served as Ambassador to the Vatican under Dubya and who was to receive a special recognition at the same commencement ceremony, has now declined the honor. An interesting twist to a self-inflicted controversy.

I'll be working on that habit change starting tomorrow.

BCOT

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sunday

Is there another term out there used as frequently and with such varied meaning as "it"?

This thought came to me this morning at spin class when the instructor was describing a group ride headed up a hill and one rider decided to "punch it", meaning to accelerate the pace and challenge the other riders to match the move. Punching it is a popular term in NASCAR, track and field, and other forms of racing.

For those of us old enough to remember The Jackie Gleason Show, his trade mark saying was, "How sweet it is!" It in that context had a universe of meanings, but generally, that things were going well for Jackie in whatever situation was the theme for that particular episode.

In contemporary culture, "It is what it is" has become a staple of explanations for any fact pattern or status report on events or relationships.

Here's a no-researched list of Ten Uses of It:

1. Give it a go.
2. It hurts.
3. It was easy.
4. It was close.
5. It hardly matters.
6. What does it mean?
7. You're it!
8. Step on it!
9. Don't step in it!
10. Either you have it or you don't have it.

This reminds me a little bit of the girls' high school English assignments where they had to write a paper without using derivatives of "be". Try going through a conversation with out using "it".

On other things...

I'm again looking at blog topics that become more than lengthy Twitter updates. Getting past April 15th was a big step. Decompressing for 10 days has helped. At least I now have an interest in coming up with some new material.

As noted on Twitter, steaks and broccoli on Maplecrest Road tonight. I still got "it"!!!

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Saturday

Looks like a little rain in my future. Did spin this AM and may do some yard work later on if the rain holds off.

Great afternoon yesterday on the course down at Geneva CC in Muscatine. My first time with a golf club in my hands since early January in Scottsdale. Not ugly results, and no permanent damage to the bod (I don't think). We did play from the white tees which makes a difference on several holes. But when you're sixty years old, who cares what tees you play from? Pride has dropped down (or off) the priority scale.

I am going to work with one of the trainers at Gold's next week for a couple of sessions to get a rehab plan for my lower back. The accident didn't do any damage there, but sitting on the couch for two months has atrophy'd whatever strength I had there. No issues with cycling, but that move when swinging a club is another story. And even standing for any length of time at a cocktail party is a bit of a problem.

My favorite spin-Nazi also leads a step class of some sort and I may sign up for a couple of those sessions too. I noticed the class while leaving spin this morning, and it looks like a really good workout. (This is a realization that came after failing to keep up with Gilad on some simple floor exercises on a FitTV program this week.)

4 had the unwelcome surprise of a thief lifting her Garmin device from her car Thursday night. Alleys are bad spots in any town. IC's alleys may be worse because so many apartments use back entrances. Lots of traffic. Lots of vandalism. I wonder when the bad guys will figure out that my house is unlocked 24/7. And has been for several years. (Does that say something about the value of my abode's contents?)

1's on the road to DM to visit her friend Sarah this weekend.

It's the Drake Relays weekend in DM which is one of the state's premier events. National recognition. World class athletes. An event run like clockwork. If a race is scheduled to go off at 2:15, it will go off at 2:15. Unlike most track meets that run events somewhat loosely after the previous event has been completed, the Drake officials keep watch on the clock, and will hold up a race until the score board clock reads exactly the scheduled time.

All for now. More later.

BCOT

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wednesday

Almost a warm day here today. Tomorrow will be better.

I went over for a scheduled eye exam this morning. My eye-sight hasn't changed much, but my glasses were showing their age, and my sun glasses frames had broken. It had been a couple of years since my last appointment. The doc I go to does a real thorough exam and I feel like a bi-annual check-up is good medicine. But I don't recommend driving immediately afterwards. That dilation process leaves marks.

As I have stated here earlier, I have the Perfect Neighbor. Today, I came home a little early in anticipation of maybe doing a little yard work. He had already mowed it! Totally unsolicited.

4 did a play-by-play of the Big O's visit to Newton, Iowa today on her Twitter account. She was there with a crew from KCRG in CR. Oh-dark-hundred departure for her to be there by mid-morning to wait for The One. I'm pretty sure that Dubya wouldn't have taken any media heat for flying AF One to Iowa for a single appearance on Earth Day. Then again, I'm guessing AF One has already been converted to a hybrid. Prius One.

Another Sometimer's update. I thought that I had again lost my favorite (and very expensive) dry-fit gloves last Friday. Retraced all my steps. Searched the kitchen, cars, and office. Scoured the SB's L & F drawers. Queried the baristas. Officially declared them (the gloves, not the baristas) lost this morning after a final (and fruitless) interrogation of the coffee group.

This afternoon, while hanging up several jackets that had accumulated on kitchen chairs over the last couple of weeks, the gloves appeared in the pocket of a wind-shell vest that I had worn on Friday. A great ending, but how far away am I from the a true mental deficiency?

3 scored a BoSox ticket for today's game in Beantown. Right place, right time for a corporate outing that had been originally scheduled for last night's rained-out game, and the participants all didn't have flexibility to make it for an afternoon game today. She said Fenway's hotdog vendors need to consult with some cart boys from C-town.

The bug in my laptop has some staying power. It has embedded a feature that disables the auto-virus detection function. Nasty stuff. The IT guys will have to scrub it from square one.

All for tonight.

BCOT

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Sunday

I'm thinking that today is Daddy's 99th birthday...Everyone should have a a piece of toast with some grape jelly in his honor!

Well, obviously I didn't get to this at Starbuck's this morning. By the time that the group broke up, I had to get going myself to make the 10 AM spin class at Gold's.

That was three straight days of cycling for me, a post-crash record. I've pretty well decided that I'm sticking with the spin class for the next couple of weeks to build the base. On the bike path Friday afternoon for an hour required a little more effort than expected. Arguably, I'm still in re-hab. The spin class is a good answer for the short term.

3 reports that she did a pre-Boston Marathon 5K this AM in Beantown, finishing on the same street as tomorrow's real deal. That's nice little memory.

The virus that grabbed my laptop Thursday took the IT guy a good two hours to remove on Friday. It had been embedded at some earlier date, and released itself on Thursday morning while I was at coffee. While my computer was turned off. Nasty stuff. My theory is that I picked it up off of Michelle Malkin's web site, where it had been implanted by some left-wing nut case. And not from those bikini pics of the SI body-paint models.

2 had a successful foo-foo evening for the high brow crowd at the museum on Friday night. I was there. In a suit. True, I am a contributor, but let's face it, the wine was complimentary.

Speaking of non-complimentary wine, the Saturday night a week ago that 2 and I dined at the country club in Muscatine included me buying a magnum-size bottle of Cabernet for our eight-person table. I thought that it was the same bar-served Cab that we had drunk by the glass before dinner. It never occurred to me to ask the price. A small mistake. The bill arrived by mail on Tuesday. The dinner was a bit pricey at $20 each for the pasta bar. The bottle of Cab came in at a cool $200 + tax. (I need to make it clear to the bartender that Roy and I do not operate on the same cash flow.)

My pal Pete fell (literally) prey to Rule 1 Of Cycling in a ugly crash last weekend caused by a mechanical failure with the chain. By himself, at low speed. Broken left arm, now in a cast. Broken right middle finger, now in a splint. Road rash on the left side of his face.

Pete's son Drew, former Augie All-Conference point guard now living in Charleston, SC, is on his way in a motor home to San Diego to begin a cross-country bicycle trip next week. I think that it's just a few guys with a modest plan. Blogs or Tweets to follow.

The count down to the real world is getting serious for 4. Graduation is now less than 30 days away.

More later today.

BCOT

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Saturday

I'm doing Sunday at SB's tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Friday




Well, here are just a couple of shots from the April 15th party. My pal Bill and my pal Roy. I get tired of seeing myself in that pinkish/mauvish shirt. Not my first choice in attire. It was the last clean one I had that day.

I had high expectations of adding to the blog last night, but I was hit with a virus on my laptop and was therefore precluded from getting on-line. There is an event at the Figge with 2 tonight, so the peanut gallery will have to wait another day for anything of substance from this site.
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Spring has sprung here. 70+ today. Margret is on the loose. Golicks for brats yesterday. If you double click the picture, you'll see the owner (and chief cook) Mike on grill duty.
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Cards and Cubs at Wrigley for real baseball.
.
BCOT



Monday, April 13, 2009

Monday

Here's to Margaret and Philip on what

would be their 73rd

anniversary.

Here Here!!

See AM's comment on yesterday's entry.

BCOT





Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sunday

Just a few lines tonight.

Enjoyed a very low-key Easter lunch with 2 and 4 at Mom's. Not even significant enough to break out the good plates or silver. We'll save that for graduation weekend.

Down to the ugly ones at work. 72 hours and counting.

Opening Day at Wrigley tomorrow. I'd want it a little warmer before I'd say that an afternoon in Wrigleyville was the ticket.

Felt bad for the guy who lost The Masters today. (He won the John Deere tournament here last year.) He had a two-shot lead with two holes to go, and proceeded to lose all contact with his swing. Bogey. Bogey. Scrambling par on the first playoff hole. And then another bogey. It's a humbling game.

I learned today that the signal on my satellite is about 3-5 seconds delayed from the signal on the local cable network. I happened to be on the phone with my pal Bill when Phil Michelson was lining up a key putt, and before he hit it, Bill offered up that Phil had just blown the putt. The whole question of, "Is it real or is it Memorex" comes into play. Even that moon shot thing might be in question. Eh?

More later in the week.

BCOT

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Thursday

The stars lined up and produced one good result today: Yesterday, I had lost one of my new, very expensive dry-fit gloves and had had no luck finding it. Late today, the office cleaning lady turned it in to our office manager (whom I had queried about it earlier in the day). I must have dropped it while coming/going/getting in/getting out of/from/to my car.

Some ad on the radio today said that there are 12K laptops lost at airports everyday. Surely that can't be true. Can it?

I was just flipping channels and caught the first couple of minutes of Private Practice on ABC. The scene was between one of the lead actresses who plays a doctor, and one of her female employees who was admitting that she was hooking to pay school bills. The employee wanted the doc to check out some of her hooker girlfriends who had attended a high-end party last weekend in Dubai and maybe had picked up some STD's. The doc was in full character not to be judgmental of the employee's action. And the Left Coast wonders why the righteous right clings to religion and guns.

Saw one story where the Big O wasn't headed back to France for the D-Day memorial because he didn't want to offend the Germans. And where ASU wasn't going to give him an honorary degree at their commencement since he hadn't done anything yet. (Of course, ND's visionaries are still making their visionary arguments. I get the impression that they actually believe their own arguments.)

The market is closed tomorrow for Good Friday. Unfortunately, Criterium will be quite agnostic-ly celebrating at the Salt Mines.

There's a reason authors shouldn't write when the mind is fried.

BCOT

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Tuesday

Not much to add today. Maybe tomorrow.

BCOT

Monday, April 06, 2009

Monday PM

Just a couple of thoughts here. The national championship game is a real ho-hummer. Carolina looks like they might win by 50.

CBS delayed the start time until almost 8:30 CST. To appease the Left Coast...or to dump a couple of cheesy reruns into preferred pre-game airing. Whatever. I chose to watch college rugby on ESPNU and a little post-Gordon-Texas-win rehash on Speed.

Does anyone else get indigestion from the syrupy crock laid on the viewership by Nance and Kellogg?

A little earth moving in central Italy. They need to get that stuff settled down before September.

I find the latest round of TV commercials touting rally-caps, pulling together, and monthly payment insurance a bit insulting. Then again, the White House is the car company these days. Hope and change.

The Big O's road show is getting favorable reviews from the French, the Turks, and the Cubans, not to mention the rave reports from those centrists at NBC, CBS and ABC. Biden is sucking up to Al Sharpton. Excuse me while I barf.

Not even apologizing for that.

BCOT

Monday

Don't look for a lot of insights here over the next week. I am so far under water that I'll never get it all done.

Snow last night. Scraping the windshield this AM. Love the weather.

IC graduation on the 16th includes a Biaggi's FFF that night. For the FFF on the 15th, Airliner pizza? No motorhome available.

Living la vita loca.

BCOT

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Thursday

Still very busy,

Had a nice, but quick, visit over to IC tonight. Pizza at The Airliner with 4. Very cool.

I'll try to pick up the blog this weekend.

BCOT