Tuesday

No blog today.

I did see a new commercial on FX that was kind of creative.  Rescue Me is an edgy show starring Dennis Leary about some guys in the New York City Fire Department.  I watched it some a couple of years ago, but Leary's efforts to maintain the edginess led to some pretty outrageous story lines.  And I got bored. 

Anyway, in their effort to plug the new episodes, they played on the NYC lifestyle, mixing reality with fiction, using Derek Jeter as himself driving through an "as if" scene from the show.  The 30-45 second ad has firefighters exiting from a smoldering building as he (Jeter) is slowly driving by in the street, in his Escalade, looking at the exhausted firemen.  No dialog among the players.  Interesting.

Great ride this AM with @bcbison, even if it was on the old bike.  The primary bike is out of the shop (good-bye $200!), and I'm promoting the use of the Trek to my pal Ron who thinks he needs a new ride for RAGBRAI.  I'm telling him to save his coin and use the Trek.

Another early ride (on my own) in the AM.  Meeting tomorrow night.

Not sure why there's all the hub-bub about Elena Kagan.  She's a Harvard liberal.  Nominated by a Harvard liberal.  Designated to replace a liberal member of the Court.  Do the math.  Regardless of what she says in response to the questions in the current hearings, she's going to side with progressive (read liberal) issues.  And the Big O's legacy of nominating gender/racial diversity to the Court will be established.  Whatever.

So no blog today actually means a couple of paragraphs today.  My bad.

BCOT

Monday

Looks like the heat spell may have run it's course.  The low tonight should be below 60.  Suite.

I took my bike in today for a routine "tune-up", and it sounds like they are swapping-out every part on the frame.  I usually take the bike in once a year for this stuff and they tighten the shifters, tweak the brakes, and clean and lube everything, but rarely do they replace the brake cables and repack the bearings.  Or keep it over night.  Which means I had to dust the cob-webs off the old Trek 2100 this evening so that I could ride with @bcbison at oh-dark-hundred tomorrow.  (Check Twitter to see how it worked!)

The landscape guy finally came by and replaced the poorly performing bushes, freshened the mulch, and supposedly sprayed the grasses that the preemergent didn't touch.  It looks pretty good.  I think that he has some annuals to add before he's done. It only took him two extra months to meet his promises.

Erin is in the house for tonight's Game One of the CWS championship series in Omaha.  Looks like a full house.  For the crossword puzzle fans in the peanut gallery, the color guy, Orel Hersheiser, is an infrequent, but recurrent answer for the clue, "Dodger pitcher nick-named Bulldog".

Now it looks like I may have a problem with the Taurus.  The car left a trail of fluid on my driveway sometime today.  The brake fluid cap was off when I opened the hood.  No idiot lights came on.  Looks like a visit to the shop.  Let's see, water in basement, bike under repair, Taurus weeping.  LtPC is not buying a lottery ticket tonight.  But if they take short orders, I may be there.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday AM

SB's in Lincoln for a little Sunday relaxation before the drive home.

2 and 4 did their late-night-with-the-gang-thing and are catching some extra zzz's.  In the fog of my memory, I just don't recall times from my youth (pre-30's) when the "night-out" started at 2300.  Then again, I've been a morning person forever, so my programming is in another universe.

Another point from my observations yesterday about the street lights and sidewalk plates is the cameras.  I mean, they are mounted on the signal cross-poles at almost all major intersections.  People are watching you.  And tracking your habits.

One of the by-products of my laptop repair is that I am now able to text from my computer.  I suppose that I was able to do this previously, but the visuals on the screen didn't show the option as then presented.  The question is, under what circumstances does texting from your computer present a better option than texting from your phone?  And I wonder if my unlimited plan with Verizon Wireless for my laptop includes texting?  I guess we'll see.

Intersting to note the number of elementary and pre-school aged kids that come through SB's with their parents.  When I was that age, a 5 cent ice cream cone was the treat.  Now it's some foo-foo foamy-ice thing for $2.40.  And the caffine addiction for a life-time.

So I'm headed back to wake the crew so that our departure time doesn't get out of hand.  I'll add here later.  Maybe even from the road if 2 can stay awake.

LATER...

The trip home was pretty uneventful.  Less than six hours.  2 wasn't too anxious to drive so I had the wheel the whole way.  No worries.  Traffic was actually less-hectic than the trip over on Thursday night and Friday morning.  We do need to remember a book-on-CD for the next trip to Big Red Country.

I had had a suspicion that my Perfect Neighbor might take a look at my grass this weekend and put his mower to work on my yard...and he did!  So rather than a busy evening catching up with that task, I was able to cruise through making dinner, doing laundry, and generally hangin' out.  Now getting ready to hit the hay.  Love my own bed.

I've encountered a technology hic-up with Twitter when traveling across area codes.  A typed-in Tweet just wouldn't go through.  At least twice.  On the way over to Lincoln.  And on the way back.  I'm wondering if it's a software thing when the phone switches towers?  On the way over, it was while 2 was driving, and I tried both the phone and the laptop.  Same non-result.  Try the same thing a while later, and all's well.  A new phantom-gremlin.

My friend Doug in DM was telling us Thursday night about an effort by a group of DM community leaders to try to bring civility back into the general conduct among the populace.  They had a kick-off luncheon recently where the featured speaker was Jim Leach, former US Congressman from Iowa (here, actually), and subsequently a yea-hoo at Princeton and Harvard.  He's now a flack for the National Endowment for the Humanities and he's actually doing a civility roadshow.  (Our government at work.  I suppose the roadshow does produce a few new jobs for some minimum-wage earners.)   The concept is admirable.  But I suspect that the Lefties will just simply want those with another view to politely concede the point and fall appropriately in line.  Whatever.

Hope everyone has a good week.


BCOT

Saturday

Hey to all from Lincoln!

So hot!  They have a heat advisory out for this afternoon.  It was already 89 degrees when I stopped at SB's for coffee at 0900.  Ouch!  While the winners both lost yesterday, making it necessary for two CWS elimination games today, we're no even thinking about venturing to Omaha.  2 and I are just going to surround 4 with fff love.

We supervised 4's production of the 10 o'clock news last night, and then headed out for late night cocktails at a couple of places in downtown Lincoln.  Their "in" area is called The Haymarket.  It's kind of an old warehouse district that they have re-habbed into bars, restaurants and clubs.  The two bars we stopped in at could have been in Iowa City, St. Louis, or even the Wrigleyville area of Chicago.

I haven't been up at 0130 forever (not counting the overnight flight to Italy last year).  Making it to "last call" was another rare occurrence.  Probably not doing a repeat performance tonight.

One of the downsides of 4 not having cable, 2's doing a two-day Friends Season Whatever marathon.  And I never liked (or even watched the show) when the episodes ran originally.  Is there a website where you vote for The Most Annoying Friend on Friends?  It could be a 6-way dead heat.

I noticed on my ride yesterday that several of the street lights in this area are mounted horizontally on the overhead extension bars at the intersections.  My first thought was that they did this to gain clearance from the vehicles traveling below.  But then I wondered, if so, why didn't they just mount the extension bars higher on the poles so the lights wouldn't hang too low?  And then I wondered if maybe there was a connection with those bumpy metal plates at the sidewalk ramps at the same intersections.

These are tough questions.

More later.

Later...

We did dinner at an Italian place in The Haymarket district. Not bad.  The wine was a Barbera de Asti, but was no where near as good as the Barbera that we had in Boston.  2 and 4 are getting set now to go back out with the young crowd.  I'm headed to bed!  Two nights in a row is not going to happen to LtPC.

BCOT

Friday

Greetings from I-80 in western Iowa!  2's at the wheel and I've been doing a little email for work.  We will be looking for a couple of tickets within the hour.

So far, the laptop is working on all cylinders.  I've had to reconstruct my "Favorites" list, and I've had some small troubles remembering user names or passwords for a couple of sites (including this one), but I'm managing to solve these little issues.  It feels good to be able to have access again at my discretion.

Updates to follow as our day evolves.

BCOT

Wednesday

Well, the day started with thunder showers, keeping us off the rode for a morning ride.  And now at 5PM we have a nother round of weather that looks like it will scrub an evening ride as well.  Sounds like a "Cabernet" echoing in those thunder heads.

Still without the laptop so this is just a quick check-in before heading home.  I'm told that I will have the computer tomorrow morning, but the techie kept setting me up for this or that maybe not being fully installed.  I'm taking the over on having the machine before I leave town, but I'm hedging on the Internet access feature.  Definitely taking the under on the thing working 100% correctly.

The Valvoline Quick Lube Shop's price for a standard oil change on the Buick today was $41, net of a $7 coupon.  (I declined the passenger compartment filter for another $40!  It was $16 on the NAPA website.)  It's cheaper going to the dealer.

Sorry for the blog being so out of it this week.  Hope to add more from the road over the next three days.

BCOT

Tuesday

No blog today.

Battery back-up sump pump shopping! What a thrill.

BCOT

Monday

Here is a pic of the Southern sky at 0530 this AM from the Bettendorf Post Office entrance as I waited for my pal Pete.  Double-click on the image for a good look.  The rain came about six miles into the ride and lasted for only 20-25 minutes.  Just enough to soak the riders.  Now we have a "steamer" going on with highs in the low 90's predicted.

Thanks to all for the Father's Day greetings and gifts.  The wine decanter will definitely get a lot of use. 

More later.

LATER...

I'm not sure if the temps got quite as warm as predicted, but it's still muggy.  With the morning ride completed, I can spend the evening getting caught up with my yard.

Petey and I were lamenting this AM about today being at the peak of the chart on the length of days for the year.  We really like that 0530 start time for the ride, so we'll be watching with the glass half empty as the sunrise creeps further toward 0600 over the next month.  (On the other hand...is that a country song?...I've got less than 90 days left of cycling season before I have to start training for the Turkey Trot.)

1 drove the Taurus this weekend and her comment had something to do with the road-worthiness and safety of the vehicle.  I resemble that remark.

Lots being written in the sports pages about the pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg, now throwing for the Nationals.  He's had huge early success, with a 100mph heater and other "big-league" pitches.  Many commentators have already projected him for Cooperstown.  Costas even made such a quote in SI last week.  Hey, the guy looks fantastic.  But have him win 20 games for a few years, earn a Cy Young or two, and then start evaluating him for his career.  Geez.  Writers are such tools!

Erin Andrews has not made any early appearances at the CWS.  Does a gig with DWTS actually make her any more marketable?  I mean, she made her initial impact in Omaha.  Why would you not be there after all the publicity from Dancing?  (She probably hired Scott Boras as her agent.  Watch the ship go down now!)

3 is in the Big Apple again this week.  Still working the interviews.  She needs to follow the old rule about "throughing enough mud against the wall, and some of it will eventually stick."  Lots of applications to that axiom.

Finally, I did check with my State Farm insurance agent on the applicability of my policy to my basement issues.  He was quick to agree that "Sorry Charlie" was applicable.  Mostly, he wanted to point out that it's their standard procedure to "populate" all of their proposals for homeowner's insurance with the sewer back-up and other water-in-the-basement situation in the quote, and the customer then has to take it out if he/she so chooses.  Nice way of saying, "I did my job, LtPC: you're the one who elected not to have the coverage."  Somehow, that came across as a little overly self-serving to me.

Of course, regardless of the coverages, there's always the matter of the "deductible".  In my case, with a $2K deductible, I'll collect on my insurance with the next tornado.  And you wonder why people love insurance companies, a gathering of whose adjustors would truly be The Party of "No".

Make it a good Monday.  (Later...Hope it was!)

BCOT

Sunday

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

Our visitors from the TC have come and gone.  Great to see 1.01 (and her parents, of course!).  She's become quite the little lady.  Here's a couple of pics from the weekend.

My personal weekend has been low-lighted by water in my basement.  The power-outage during the Friday night storms meant that my sump pump had no means of support.  And that sucker (literally) runs a lot when we get siginificant rains.  So when I  went downstairs for my morning shower on Saturday morning, that squishing sound around my feet was a harbinger of the rest of my day.

We got a gas generator going over at SRH's by 9 AM or so, and ran it there for an hour to get the worst of her sump pump back-load pumped out.  (She had no water in her basement.)  I then took the generator over to my place and once going, my pump went continuously for about 15 minutes.  And it continued to pump most of the morning.

After the power came on around 11 AM, I began moving things around and trying to get a handle on how much water had seeped in.  Ultimately, it became clear that the Pete's shop vac was not going to be an adequate solution, and we ripped out a room-sized section, and then shop-vac-ed the water that remained.  I thought that might be enough, but earlier today, the smell suggested that I needed to do more work.  So I ripped out another section that was equally wet.

Ultimately, the rest of the carpet in the basement and on the steps will all have to go.  But I'm going to wait until things have fully dried out.  I'm thinking indoor-outdoor stuff.  And a battery back-up for the sump pump.

My laptop is still MIA.  The IT folks had better have a positive update tomorrow.  It hurts my blog time.

Watching the US Open golf on the tube as I make this entry.  El Tigre is playing like he's heard from some of his old girlfriends.  The guy who had the lead at the start of the day went off the grid (the wrong way!).

The new home page picture was the cloud formation in Bettendorf on Friday night before the monsoons came down.  Huge thunderheads that the photo really doesn't capture.

Busy week ahead here.  Hope everyone has a good one.

BCOT

Friday AM

So 1.01 is in the 563.  Late arrival last night, but up and at 'em this morning.

The plan for today is yet to develope.  Weather may play a roll.  The forecast is for a high in the muggy 90's with storms probable. 

My morning ride was ok, but it's never quite as good when I'm on my own.  Glad to have the workout done though.

More later.

BCOT

Wednesday

Finally drying out a bit here.

Word on the laptop now is "mother-board shot".  The question will be whether the warranty goes out the 30 months since acquisition.  I'm not willing to take the over on this one.  What will Dell have to say?

The Celtics sure mailed it in last night.  How does a team on the precipice of greatness fail to show?  Fortunately, my walk with The Winniferous and her transport back to 2's kept me away from the tube for most of the first half, and I just checked in for the final score before hitting the sack.

I'm putting 3 up as Daughter of the Day for no particular reason other than she continues to work hard at finding that next step in her career.  Its never easy when you are operating within a process where you have no leverage and the powers-that-be hold all the cards.  But the good thing is that 3 has the talent, determination and personality to win out in the end.  You just have to keep pitching, Kiddo.  You will succeed.

I finally got back on the bike this AM for my first post-TOMRV ride.  My pal Pete was on the road for work so I had no drafting assistance.  16 miles by 0645.  I took a pass on the last couple of hills that makes the normal ride 19 miles. Maybe tomorrow.

I don't think that I mentioned here the excitement we had on Saturday crossing the Mississippi River at Sabula.  That bridge has always been a little interesting because its one of those old ones with the grated-metal decking that you can look through to the river below.  And the side rail only goes up to about mid-thigh level.  Anyone with a fear of heights can easily get a panic attack for sure.  And that's in clear weather.

Saturday was rainy and damp.  I was leading our four-rider pace line on the ramp up to the bridge, so I was the first one to encounter the metal decking...with almost immediate near-catastrophic results.  It was like the NASCAR announcer describing a car in trouble..."Man, he came outta Turn 4 and he was sideways.  What a save!"  Well, I was sideways once, then twice, and quickly decided that walking across Ol' Muddy was a fine decision.  And we did.  (Except for Ron who thought he was a better man for staying on his bike.  He did admit over beers in Galena that he was an idiot for that choice!)

And a tip of the hat to Tom Izzo for electing to stay at Michigan State as their basketball coach.  He's top-drawer stuff, and to have lost him to the pit of the NBA would have been a true loss for college basketball.  And the Big 10.  Or is the Big 10 now the Big 12?

Have a great evening.

BCOT

Tuesday

Laptop is still down.  Maybe out for the count.  When the techie asks about warranty period, it's usually not a good sign that the repair is almost complete.

There was a deluge here just after lunch that flooded the streets.  Now sunny, hot and humid.  Welcome to Summer in the Midwest.

I hope the Celtics win tonight, but I'd bet on LA.  And if LA wins tonight, I'd bet on them again to win on Thursday night.  It's really a matter of whether the old guys with the Celtics can hold Kobe to 40 or less, and keep the Lakers' supporting cast in the shadows.  Not that I will necessarily watch the full game.  I wonder if the Big O will elect to do a halftime speech or preempt the first quarter?

There was a power outage in my neighborhood last night right at dusk.  It must have been a limited area as SRH had no such problems and she had seen no TV announcements.  I had to shower in the dark and couldn't do my regular crossword work when I went to bed.  When I woke after midnight, the lights were back on and I had to go about re-setting all of the digital clocks.

My time with The Winniferous tonight.  I may do a short ride before I tag along for her walk.  Since she basically walks me.

I'm personally glad that the Big 12 has survived (for the time being).  I'm guessing that UT and OU did the math and figured that if the other eight schools gave them a deserving unequal share of revenues that a move to the Left Coast offered little rewards.  Going to play in Pullman can't be any better than a visit to Ames (which is, at least, in the same time zone).  Now the question is, will the Big 12 try to find a couple of replacements for the Buffs and Big Red?

One note of celebrity news, Jimmy Dean died  within the last week.  He had a country music hit called "Big Bad John" that I remember from days before I was a true country fan.  And his commercials for Jimmy Dean Sausage were a longtime trademark.  (It was his company, not one for which he was just a spokesman.)  And he had many TV and movie credits, including a role in the Bond flick, Diamonds Are Forever.  He wasn't a guy whom I would necessarily walk across the street to meet, but if he sat down by me at SB's for a cup of coffee, I'd be interested in what he had to say (particularly about Jill St. John).

Off for my dog-sitting duties.  Have a great evening.

BCOT

Monday

This will have to be a short entry as I won't have my laptop tonight at home.  The laptop locked-up on me last night as I tried to open Windows for an add-on report for TOMRV.  The IT guy was in this morning and was not able to solve the problem.  His report this afternoon was that I apparently sucked-in a start-up virus that will necessate a scrubbing of the hard drive.  Really odd.  I wasn't even on the Internet when the problem surfaced.  Let's hear it for sleeper cells.

Not much damage to the bod from the Saturday ride.  At 56 miles, the ride was just 10 miles longer than the normal Sunday run to DeWitt.  The post-ride cocktails did go on for a while, which is why you do TOMRV anyway!  My pal Lee enjoyed the adventure and he's even making noise about doing both days next year.  I'll try to calm those instincts about the second leg.

I've been able to keep a lid on the excitement from the World Cup.  Actually, there's a part of me that wonders if a World Cup played in South Africa might not be like the hypthetical visits to the moon by our astronauts.  I mean, those games, are they real or are they on Memorex?

The most difficult thing to watch on the tube yesterday was the PGA golfer looking to win his first tournament blow his three-shot lead on the last hole.  If you had given him a seven-iron and a putter as his only clubs, he could have pretty easily scored a five on the hole.  It's a par 4, 450 yard hole.  These guys hit a seven around 200 yards.  Do the math.  Instead, he hits some "safe" utility club off the tee into the hazard.  Takes a drop.  Now hitting three.  Chunks that one with an eight iron into the trees.  Four back out to the fairway, still 160 yards to the green.  Five to the green with 14 feet to then save double-bogey!  Misses the putt and makes seven!  Ugh! 

He then has to go to a play-off with two other guys, and they have to play the same hole.  Again. He lets it rip off the tee, and lands directly behind a tree, makes bogey, and is cooked.  What an awful thirty minutes of his life.  (Well, he did make $400k for third place.  But that was a little less than the $1,050,000 that the winner took home.)  Golf is a cruel game.  Even for the pro's.

Hope everyone enjoys Monday night.

BCOT

Sunday

On the streets of Galena yesterday afternoon.  With my pals Ron, Lee and Pete.

Actually turned into a pretty nice Saturday.  After scrubbing the planned ride from Rapids City with that group, we did breakfast at the Bettendorf Maidrite and allowed the storms to abate, drove North to Elvira, and picked up the ride at the 30 mile mark around 1100.  The rest of the ride to Galena was pretty typical for TOMRV: a few hills, three sag stops, and beers at the The DeSoto House on Main Street.

In recovery on my couch now.  More here later.

BCOT

Friday

So the blank picture is one I took from my trip up Lautaret in September, and the other with the riders was taken today as the peloton tried to emulate my ride up the same road.  The mountains in the distance are the real deal.

I'm headed up to Galena this afternoon to pick up my Chicago friend, leave his car, and come back here to be ready to roll in the AM.  Sounds like my pals Pete and Ron will also be joining for the Saturday ride.  Suite.

The Winniferous did her first damage to my belongings last night...a sofa pillow just minding it's own business.  2 has some repair work to do.  Otherwise, The Winniferous was ok, enthusiastic, and entertaining.  But it was good to be able to pass her back to 2 at evening's end.

4 reports that Big Red has made the move to the Big 10.  My guess is that an annual football game between Nebraska and Iowa will become a huge deal.  What will happen to the 'Clones?

Gotta go.  Have a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

I am duly admonished by 4 for being a bit of a slackerd this week on the blog.  No good excuse except the inefficient allocation of time.  I'll try to do better.

This morning's ride was my last one in preparation of Saturday's TOMRV.  My pal Pete was back providing the draft today and the 19+ miles went by 10-15 minutes quicker than when I was on my own yesterday.  He may or may not join for the Saturday portion-only of TOMRV.

The big news in the sports world (disregarding the NBA playoffs and the Stanley Cup) is this business with conference realignment for the major colleges.  I guess I like the idea of Nebraska moving to the Big Ten, and maybe Missouri too.  Both of those schools have close geographic connectivity to the existing membership, and if exansion is going to happen, I'd rather see those schools included rather than Rutgers and Syracuse.

ND needs to read the tea leaves and join the Big Ten as well.  The Irish have forfeited any high ground that they may have held in The Good Old Days, and membership in the Big Ten trumps any other affiliations that they might be relegated to in the future.

Not sure if there was any clear message sent in the primaries around the country on Tuesday.  There's obviously some anti-incumbent sentiment everywhere, but it's not like the established candidates all lost.  Personally, I voted against all the incumbents that I could on the Republican ticket.  (In Iowa, you have to vote for one party or the other in the primary election.  In years past, I have switched parties in order to vote against the most incumbent candidates.  And this was years before Rick Santelli even thought about a Tea Party movement.)

It looks like I will have The Winniferous for the evening.  With 2 in class and my workout already done, dog-sitting after work is not a problem.  We did this on Tuesday night and it worked well.  She is a very energetic girl.

I'm missing some of the intra-fam exchanges on Twitter.  Am I not fully linked-in with everyone?

My regular SB's shop is switching managers again.  The gal whom they brought in Last fall from out of town to run the store is returning to a Peoria location next week.  She was/is not the most personable gal, and she's run off the cutest baristas, but I don't get the impression that this was/is a company decision.  In any event, they are bringing back a gal from another local SB's, and this gal is a really up-beat person who should improve the feel in the store.

Here's a pic of the damage I did last night to my pal Roy's white golf shirt.  Without trying, I splashed a nearly full glass of a (very good) Napa Cabernet all over him while trying to raise a table umbrella.  He was a prince in spite of the mess.  My reputation at the club was not exactly enhanced.  The good news: I didn't break the glass, and I still saved a couple of swallows of the wine.

Back to work now.  Maybe more later with The Winniferous.

BCOT

UPDATE: 1400 Hrs CDT. The primary bike race being contested this week in Europe is le Dauphine Libere in Southern France.  Today's stage ended at a ski station a few miles South of Briancon, the town that 2 and I visited last Fall when I did those rides in the Hautes-Alpes.  Tomorrow's stage starts in a small ski town a few miles Northwest of Briancon on the road that I rode for two separate days. The intermediate summit is the Col de Lautaret, about a 20 kilometer Category 2 grind from Briancon.

The peleton will bear left and finish in Grenoble.  I took a hard right at Lautaret and went up the 10 clicks to summit the Galibier.  After I took a few deep breaths.

Again...

BCOT

Sunday

Here's to the boys who made history on this day in 1944.

My weekend of golf came to an uneventful (and certainly un-noteworthy) end Saturday afternoon.  The clubs will stay on the rack for a while as my back recovers.  The one good report is that we didn't spend much time in the rain.

My business partner's oldest daughter was married yesterday and he hosted a great party last night in Bettendorf.  I'm guessing 225-250 guests at the new events center.  9-piece band, color-coordinated everything, and plenty of adult beverages.  I lasted until around 8:30.  I'll be curious to hear the stories tomorrow about the rest of the evening.

My pal Pete and I did the DeWitt ride this morning.  I didn't have very good legs, but Petey had a LtPC Rule # 1 incident yesterday on the metal-grated bike path bridge to The Arsenal, and so he was hurting a bit himself.  Anyway, the wind wasn't awful, the temps were good, and breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe was super.  I'll be riding the 15-20 milers 3-4 days this week as final prep for next weekend's TOMRV ride.

3 had an unexpected trip to the TC come up yesterday, so she's with 1 and 1.01 right now.  (Sorry 1.1; Dad kind of fades into the background when new babies are around.)  I think she returns to the East Coast tomorrow evening.  3 is a VIP for her firm at a client meeting tomorrow.  Suite.

Just wanted to put up something tonight to get a string going.  With golf not in the picture, maybe normality will creep into my life tomorrow.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

The Icon of the Day is John Wooden.

Thursday

There won't be a lot of action here for the next couple of days.  There is a golf event down at Geneva in Muscatine that I am participating in through noon or so on Saturday.  Should be fun as long as the weather cooperates.  I played 9 holes yesterday with my pal Cal and the results weren't ugly.  We'll see whether the back holds up to the twisting of the golf swing.

My pal Pete and I did our early ride this AM, starting in very threatening weather, and finishing is a bright and sunny morning.  Even with the golf, I plan to do that early ride each day too.  Then DeWitt on Sunday.  I mean, TOMRV is now just a week away, and that means 85 on Saturday the 12th.

3 continues to pursue her future in The Big Apple.  She needs to give us more than Twitter reports.

So the ump blows a call at first base and it costs a pitcher a perfect game?  I've never been a proponent of instant replay in baseball, but situations like this should not be allowed to stand-up when the readily available replay gives obvious results to the contrary of the call on the field.  Shouldn't the crew chief be allowed to look at the film and over-rule an erronious call?  They've made it work (mostly) in the NFL and NBA.  They need to look at it in MLB.

Not sure if MLB Commish should over-rule after-the-fact.  But I wouldn't asterisk the perfect game if he did so.

Got to go.  Good luck to all.

BCOT

Wednesday

These short weeks always challenge my internal gyroscope for sensing the correct day.  Yesterday was "Monday" all day, and I'm working hard to catch up this morning that we are now at Wednesday.  Since I have a golf commitment in Muskie this afternoon, you'd think that day-registering wouldn't be that hard of a concept.  (There was a time years ago when I actually resorted to writing the day on a white-board in my office to get the synapses connected.)

It looks like June will now just flash through the calendar.  The weekends look full: the golf outing in Muskie through Saturday (and a wedding that afternoon), TOMRV on the 12th, the TC crew here on the 19th, and CWS on the 26th. There's the small matter of work in between times.  Then we have the 4th of July holiday weekend...and then it's Tahoe.  There will be little time to watch the grass grow.

I picked up the Buick on Saturday after it having sat at the dealership for 9 days.  The service guy had not called me for over a week after they had to tow it with the two flat tires that morning when I needed to be in DM.  They replaced all of the valve stems (which the tech noted on the repair order that all the old ones were leaking), and had not noticed any deflation while the car sat in their lot.  Of course, I had a near-flat last night and had to air-up the left front.  If there's not a nail in that tire, uh, Houston, we do have a problem.  Wow.

Hard for me to generate much enthusiasm for the NBA finals that start this week.  I guess that it is an "official" finals since the Lakers and the Celtics are the two teams, but neither squad will likely draw siginificant support from their non-core fans.  Kobe is about as anti-hero as an anti-hero can be, LA is LA, and the Celtics' hardly resemble their classic teams from the past (other than three of their key players are old).  And the series being played in the middle of baseball, golf and NASCAR seems out of season.  (Baseball playing The World Series in basketball season is a similar disconnect.)

I have been impressed with the results of an on-line employment service that I have recently used to fill a position in my office.  Traditionally, we have placed newspaper ads for this type of hiring, with a relatively small ad running for 3-4 days including a Sunday.  It was never cheap.  We would usually get enough resumes, but it was definitely iffy. (new oxymoron, eh?)  The on-line deal produced over 50 resumes and was continuing to draw interest three weeks after the initial posting.

I suppose some of the print media will price an ad for both print and on-line presentations, but this on-line experience will keep me away from the newspaper in the future for such efforts.  The price is right ($300 for 30 days), the site attracts job-seekers, and the information received from applicants is immediately reviewable (and easily re-reviewed).  This is just another example of the slow death of the fish-wrap.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

BCOT

Tuesday

Welcome to June!

Not quite sure why I didn't get anything added to the blog over the holiday weekend, but it just didn't happen.  I could blame The Winniferous, but that really wouldn't be fair as there was plenty of otherwise uninterupted time.  Maybe it was just a sign of the lack of excitement on Maplecrest Road.  Whatever.

The Tuesday after Memorial Day always feels like The First Day of Summer to me.  School's pretty much out (except for those districts around here that have snow days yet to make up), gardens have moved to the maintenance stage, and sunrise is before 0530.  The office goes casual (it isn't usually?), Margret is a regular ride, and beers on the deck at Gov's is a standard post-ride activity.

Here's a belated salute to the Armed Services.  I wasn't able to get over to The Arsenal yesterday because of 2's arrival from Beantown.  I might go over there one day this week just to get the feel of the recognition and rememberance.

2's visit to Beantown was a success.  Small travel hick-ups, but nothing too bad.  3 had to work late on Friday, and 2's phone was on the fritz, but everything worked out well in the end.  This is a shot of the girls taken Sunday night (I think) on the roof of 3's apartment building.  The North Church tower in the background.  Suite.

3 is busy juggling what should be the final weeks of her current job with interviews for her next one (in NYC).  After few positives from her job-hunting efforts across the Winter and early Spring, she's had a number of good things come up in the last three weeks, and hopefully will be able to land something definite this month.  Good luck, Kiddo!

SRH's visit to the TC over the weekend also was successful.  This is a pic from 1's posting yesterday, and I think was taken a week or so ago when they went to the Twinkies' game against the Yankees for 1's birthday. 1.01 is getting big!

1.1 finished the Madison Marathon on Sunday, but received no official time as the organizers shut down the event after the top runners had finished and the temperature had reached 85 degrees.  This is the second time that he has had a marathon run into heat problems. 

My weekend with The Winniferous was not bad.  I'm not ready for full-time dog responsibilities, but I survived.  I've lived so many years where I haven't had to consult with anyone else on my schedule that being this responsible was noticeable.  Here's my Top Ten list of Winniferous-isms:

1. No, biting my hand is not a game.

2. No, my sunroom carpet is not an outside place.

3. I have an alarm if I want to get up at 0515.

4. Squirrels are not weaking a carin up the street.

5. My bed is not your bed.

6. That chocolate lab is not your same size.

7. It is extemely unlikely that you will catch that bird.

8. I have no clue where you hid that bone.

9. I do not need your help in my bathroom.

10. My popsicles are not your popsicles.

Hope the week is a good one for the peanut gallery.

BCOT