Hmmm. That business of blogging from the road didn't turn out so well.
I'll post some pics this evening of 1.01 from the weekend. There's no question on who is running the household in Woodbury.
My future trips North will most certainly include me packing my bike. 1 and her family live on the very edge of the eastern suburbs of the TC and country roads are almost immediately available. And all of the roads that I rode had wide, paved shoulders that were/are very accommodating to cyclists. Lots of bikers out over the weekend, and, as a group, a friendly lot. The pic here is of the retractable bridge in Stillwater, a touristy town on the St. Croix River. (Double click the pic for a good view.)
Today is the un-official (or official if you so think) start of Summer. I'm going to clear my desk of the piles of paper and see how long it can stay that way.
More later.
BCOT
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday
On the road today to the TC to visit 1.01 and her parents.
SRH is headed West to check in on 4. 2 is maintaining the home front here in the QCA
I'll be adding to the blog from the TC. Pics of 1.01 fo' sure!
Hope the peanut gallery has a successful holiday weekend.
BCOT
SRH is headed West to check in on 4. 2 is maintaining the home front here in the QCA
I'll be adding to the blog from the TC. Pics of 1.01 fo' sure!
Hope the peanut gallery has a successful holiday weekend.
BCOT
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday
Happy Tax Birthday to 1. You are Daughter of the Day!
Here's a little trivia, Kiddo. I was doing some math, as I am prone to do on birthdays, and discovered that thirty one years ago, I too was thirty-one. I'm not a wizard at these things, but I don't think that there will be another year where I am exactly twice as old as you. What does that mean?
I don't want anyone to have a brain cramp on that math exercise.
More later.
BCOT
Here's a little trivia, Kiddo. I was doing some math, as I am prone to do on birthdays, and discovered that thirty one years ago, I too was thirty-one. I'm not a wizard at these things, but I don't think that there will be another year where I am exactly twice as old as you. What does that mean?
I don't want anyone to have a brain cramp on that math exercise.
More later.
BCOT
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday...UPDATED
Just a short entry here to recognize my Chicago pal Lee who experienced Cycling Rule #1 yesterday and ended up in the ER. Seriously dislocated a finger that they weren't able to re-set yesterday. So he's back at the doc's this AM. I feel your pain, bud! (This is a pic that he had posted on Twitter.)
Not much damage in this area from the storms last night. The sirens blew at least three times.
More later.
Now later...
Lee reports that he is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday morning. No other details. He did say that he couldn't remember specifically what happened other than that he ended up over the handlebars, hit his head (helmeted!) and must have reached out to break his fall. In cycling, a fleeting moment of inattention can lead to these things.
I know that I mentioned on Twitter that I found my mini-digi camera over the weekend...in the Buick. I had looked in that car several times. I keep the digi in a small fabric case, and it had slipped into that narrow space between the driver's seat and the door. I came across it Saturday morning when I had walked out to the car from SB's to get my checkbook. When I opened the door and reached across the driver's seat to the center console, my eyes caught the case as I was pulling back out of the car. (Not a very interesting story, but a great result for LtPC.)
For the truly bored...
Sentient...the ability to feel, the power of perception of the senses.
Regnant...having the chief power, dominant.
Solipsism...philosophical idea that one's own mind is all that exists.
Finally, here's a little hat tip to my pal Roy who reports that the Pleasant Valley HS girls golf team, for whom he is an active assistant coach, won their state-qualifying tournament today by 71 strokes!!! Here is a pic of him with one of his pals. You 'da man, Coachie!
Make Tuesday a good one.
BCOT
Not much damage in this area from the storms last night. The sirens blew at least three times.
More later.
Now later...
Lee reports that he is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday morning. No other details. He did say that he couldn't remember specifically what happened other than that he ended up over the handlebars, hit his head (helmeted!) and must have reached out to break his fall. In cycling, a fleeting moment of inattention can lead to these things.
I know that I mentioned on Twitter that I found my mini-digi camera over the weekend...in the Buick. I had looked in that car several times. I keep the digi in a small fabric case, and it had slipped into that narrow space between the driver's seat and the door. I came across it Saturday morning when I had walked out to the car from SB's to get my checkbook. When I opened the door and reached across the driver's seat to the center console, my eyes caught the case as I was pulling back out of the car. (Not a very interesting story, but a great result for LtPC.)
For the truly bored...
Sentient...the ability to feel, the power of perception of the senses.
Regnant...having the chief power, dominant.
Solipsism...philosophical idea that one's own mind is all that exists.
Finally, here's a little hat tip to my pal Roy who reports that the Pleasant Valley HS girls golf team, for whom he is an active assistant coach, won their state-qualifying tournament today by 71 strokes!!! Here is a pic of him with one of his pals. You 'da man, Coachie!
Make Tuesday a good one.
BCOT
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday
A weekend with The Winniferous always reduces my view of the world to the basics. I'm back to being a full-time caretaker and what I might want to do is always addressed with the proviso of the impact on my W responsibilities. Not that I have the most interesting life, but whatever my "normal" is, it's a little less than that on these weekends.
My first ride of the year out in the country today confirmed that I need another week of training on the bike path. And that's a conclusion reached without regard for the 20mph wind ripping out of the South. (This would have been a perfect day for a tailwind ride to Dubuque.) The harsh truth is that its going to be harder for me to get up the hills this year. Bummer.
They just rang the tornado sirens here. I've been watching the storm head this way all afternoon on the TV alerts. Big gusts of wind, but no rain, thunder or really dark skies. I'm guessing that all communities are a bit sensitive since those storms in the South in the last month.
1 advises that we have reservations at the Holiday Inn in Country Club Plaza for the KC FFF weekend in July. Sounds like she did a Priceline purchase at a good rate. I'm generally familiar with the hotel and it's location, but 1 and 1.1 have stayed there before and are confident that we won't be doing another CR experience. Its walking distance to all of the Plaza, including SB's.
This may shock some of you, but I'm not a big George Will fan. He's too Inside-the Beltway-Elitist for me, even if he does like baseball. I rarely get through his columns (which tend to be well written), but I will usually read enough to see who (or what) may have caught his fancy that day. I think that I consider him a less-accomplished and younger David Broder (who to my knowledge did not share the interest in baseball).
Anyway, a column of his last week caught my eye at coffee and I did my usual speed-read of a few paragraphs. What generated a second read were three words that he had in the column that I could not define off the top of my head. Sentient. Regnant. Solipsism. I think that he regularly inserts some extra-credit words in his columns just to confirm that he is smarter than the reader, but three at a time is making a statement that he is really smarter. Isn't there a rule out there for journalists about not insulting their audience?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/history-lessons-for-obama-and-other-liberals/2011/05/11/AFXxmdsG_story.html I had to re-read the column to find the words that had originally given me the thought that I just shared, but the point of the column might resonate for Center-Right folks. You on the Left should go elsewhere.
Really a good story today on the PGA tour. David Toms, who is in his mid-40's, won the tournament in Fort Worth, his first win in several years. He's one of the truly good guys. Quite a feat for a guy who suffered a very dramatic loss just last week in a sudden-death play-off when he missed a three-footer for par on the first play-off hole.
And American Chris Horner (who is almost 40!) won the Tour of California today. Another victory for the Geezer Squad. With 60 Minutes now broadcasting the latest dirt on cycling, every rider will suffer public doubt. Let it be known the LtPC is on high-dosage ibuprofen most of the time.
I may try to add a couple more paragraphs after dinner.
BCOT
My first ride of the year out in the country today confirmed that I need another week of training on the bike path. And that's a conclusion reached without regard for the 20mph wind ripping out of the South. (This would have been a perfect day for a tailwind ride to Dubuque.) The harsh truth is that its going to be harder for me to get up the hills this year. Bummer.
They just rang the tornado sirens here. I've been watching the storm head this way all afternoon on the TV alerts. Big gusts of wind, but no rain, thunder or really dark skies. I'm guessing that all communities are a bit sensitive since those storms in the South in the last month.
1 advises that we have reservations at the Holiday Inn in Country Club Plaza for the KC FFF weekend in July. Sounds like she did a Priceline purchase at a good rate. I'm generally familiar with the hotel and it's location, but 1 and 1.1 have stayed there before and are confident that we won't be doing another CR experience. Its walking distance to all of the Plaza, including SB's.
This may shock some of you, but I'm not a big George Will fan. He's too Inside-the Beltway-Elitist for me, even if he does like baseball. I rarely get through his columns (which tend to be well written), but I will usually read enough to see who (or what) may have caught his fancy that day. I think that I consider him a less-accomplished and younger David Broder (who to my knowledge did not share the interest in baseball).
Anyway, a column of his last week caught my eye at coffee and I did my usual speed-read of a few paragraphs. What generated a second read were three words that he had in the column that I could not define off the top of my head. Sentient. Regnant. Solipsism. I think that he regularly inserts some extra-credit words in his columns just to confirm that he is smarter than the reader, but three at a time is making a statement that he is really smarter. Isn't there a rule out there for journalists about not insulting their audience?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/history-lessons-for-obama-and-other-liberals/2011/05/11/AFXxmdsG_story.html I had to re-read the column to find the words that had originally given me the thought that I just shared, but the point of the column might resonate for Center-Right folks. You on the Left should go elsewhere.
Really a good story today on the PGA tour. David Toms, who is in his mid-40's, won the tournament in Fort Worth, his first win in several years. He's one of the truly good guys. Quite a feat for a guy who suffered a very dramatic loss just last week in a sudden-death play-off when he missed a three-footer for par on the first play-off hole.
And American Chris Horner (who is almost 40!) won the Tour of California today. Another victory for the Geezer Squad. With 60 Minutes now broadcasting the latest dirt on cycling, every rider will suffer public doubt. Let it be known the LtPC is on high-dosage ibuprofen most of the time.
I may try to add a couple more paragraphs after dinner.
BCOT
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday
This has been a funny week and I don't know where it rates on the Hit Parade. Nice night with 2 on Wednesday to celebrate her birthday. Pasta at Lunardi's. Then yesterday was a travel day with meetings in Des Moines. Not too many bumps on the trip, but it makes for a long day.
And today was an IRS hand-holding day. In spite of my many years of experience, IRS audits still make me a little nervous, and today was no exception. At this point, it looks like the agent found no significant issues. But I never count my chickens until the letter comes and gives us a passing grade.
My latest evidence of Sometimer's is the loss/misplacement of my mini-digi camera. I wanted to loan it to 2 for her weekend in the TC, but when I went to pick it up this AM, it was no where at home or here at the office. I've checked the cars, the microwave and under the furniture. A mystery. And I really like that camera!
I'm headed out shortly to pick up The Winniferous for the weekend. She'll get to supervise my yard work and other domestic chores. I should have put up warning signs for the critters in the neighborhood.
On one of my evening rides on the bike path this week, I ran into (not literally!) our cousin Fran R whom I hadn't seen for several months. (He's the 70+ year old who has consistently won his age-group at most of the local 5-10K road races.) Anyway, he was walking on the path this week and I stopped to give him the needle for sluffing off on his training.
Turns out that Fran's running days are over. He had had hip replacement surgery maybe 10 years ago and the doc had told him then to limit his running...which he obviously didn't do. Last Fall, the doc had to re-replace the ball in the previously replaced socket and there was no debate about future running. I'm sure that's not an easy reality for him. Sounds like a bike answer to me.
The chorus of admitted cycling dopers got a new voice this week when Tyler Hamilton fessed up that his previous denials were all lies. And, oh, "By the way, I saw Lance Armstrong shoot up as well." 60 Minutes will have the full story on Sunday. The rats are definitely moving to where they think they see dry land. Special agent of the FDA, Jeff Novitsky, is on a mission. In a time of massive government deficits, I'm gratified to see the FDA expend resources to dig up 10 year old dirt.
A little later...
The evening with The W has been okay. She's a little easier to tire out in warmer weather. But she still whines when she's not the focus of your attention.
I've been in negotiation with Hy Vee on the wine deal. Turns out the case on the Jack London is six bottles, not twelve. So I received my "two" cases of six bottles each yesterday, but I've asked that another two cases get delivered to conform to my expectations of twenty-four bottles. I mean, not to overstate the obvious, but twelve bottles ain't gonna last to KC!
Now bedtime. Wonder what The W thinks of that?
BCOT
And today was an IRS hand-holding day. In spite of my many years of experience, IRS audits still make me a little nervous, and today was no exception. At this point, it looks like the agent found no significant issues. But I never count my chickens until the letter comes and gives us a passing grade.
My latest evidence of Sometimer's is the loss/misplacement of my mini-digi camera. I wanted to loan it to 2 for her weekend in the TC, but when I went to pick it up this AM, it was no where at home or here at the office. I've checked the cars, the microwave and under the furniture. A mystery. And I really like that camera!
I'm headed out shortly to pick up The Winniferous for the weekend. She'll get to supervise my yard work and other domestic chores. I should have put up warning signs for the critters in the neighborhood.
On one of my evening rides on the bike path this week, I ran into (not literally!) our cousin Fran R whom I hadn't seen for several months. (He's the 70+ year old who has consistently won his age-group at most of the local 5-10K road races.) Anyway, he was walking on the path this week and I stopped to give him the needle for sluffing off on his training.
Turns out that Fran's running days are over. He had had hip replacement surgery maybe 10 years ago and the doc had told him then to limit his running...which he obviously didn't do. Last Fall, the doc had to re-replace the ball in the previously replaced socket and there was no debate about future running. I'm sure that's not an easy reality for him. Sounds like a bike answer to me.
The chorus of admitted cycling dopers got a new voice this week when Tyler Hamilton fessed up that his previous denials were all lies. And, oh, "By the way, I saw Lance Armstrong shoot up as well." 60 Minutes will have the full story on Sunday. The rats are definitely moving to where they think they see dry land. Special agent of the FDA, Jeff Novitsky, is on a mission. In a time of massive government deficits, I'm gratified to see the FDA expend resources to dig up 10 year old dirt.
A little later...
The evening with The W has been okay. She's a little easier to tire out in warmer weather. But she still whines when she's not the focus of your attention.
I've been in negotiation with Hy Vee on the wine deal. Turns out the case on the Jack London is six bottles, not twelve. So I received my "two" cases of six bottles each yesterday, but I've asked that another two cases get delivered to conform to my expectations of twenty-four bottles. I mean, not to overstate the obvious, but twelve bottles ain't gonna last to KC!
Now bedtime. Wonder what The W thinks of that?
BCOT
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Wednesday
Happy Birthday to 2!! She has another day at the top of the heap...She is again Daughter of the Day!!!
More later.
BCOT
More later.
BCOT
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Tuesday
Happy Tax Birthday to 2!!! You are Daughter of the Day!
I'm also going to recognize a baseball Hall of Famer who passed on earlier today, Harmon Killebrew. He was a bigger-than-life player for the Twins years ago. I remember Aunt Martha calling him her favorite player.
Here's a nice little article on him: http://www.cbssports.com/#!/mlb/story/15073119/killebrew-was-no-killer-except-when-it-came-to-slugging
More later.
BCOT
I'm also going to recognize a baseball Hall of Famer who passed on earlier today, Harmon Killebrew. He was a bigger-than-life player for the Twins years ago. I remember Aunt Martha calling him her favorite player.
Here's a nice little article on him: http://www.cbssports.com/#!/mlb/story/15073119/killebrew-was-no-killer-except-when-it-came-to-slugging
More later.
BCOT
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday
The distruction of my street did fully engage today. I'm thinking that the crew has kind of figured out the process given their experience on the other three exactly similar segments that have been completed in the last several weeks. The old concrete was all gone by end of business today. I'll get a pic in the morning and add it to this posting.
The second stage of the Tour of California got shortened today because of weather. Again. It was supposed to start at Squaw Valley (where we have been several times), and then head through Truckee (as in City On The...) and over Donner Pass. The organizers bagged the mountains and started the stage over in Nevada City and added a couple of circuits to the finishing loop in Sacramento. Bummer for the Squaw folks. Really glad I didn't go out for the weekend. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing Uncle Phil and Aunt Jan.
My pal Ron's elderly father passed away yesterday. It was anticipated given some recent failing health issues. Ron and I had talked about it at coffee in the morning, But Ron certainly hadn't gone out there to visit afterwards thinking that that was the day. Then again, no one knows the day or the hour... Visitation Thursday. Funeral Friday.
Glad to know that there's an honest, new Mayor in Chicago. I'm sure that we've heard the last of "Chicago Politics".
Remember to wish 2 a Happy Tax Birthday tomorrow.
Hitting the hay . Make it a good Tuesday.
BCOT
The second stage of the Tour of California got shortened today because of weather. Again. It was supposed to start at Squaw Valley (where we have been several times), and then head through Truckee (as in City On The...) and over Donner Pass. The organizers bagged the mountains and started the stage over in Nevada City and added a couple of circuits to the finishing loop in Sacramento. Bummer for the Squaw folks. Really glad I didn't go out for the weekend. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing Uncle Phil and Aunt Jan.
My pal Ron's elderly father passed away yesterday. It was anticipated given some recent failing health issues. Ron and I had talked about it at coffee in the morning, But Ron certainly hadn't gone out there to visit afterwards thinking that that was the day. Then again, no one knows the day or the hour... Visitation Thursday. Funeral Friday.
Glad to know that there's an honest, new Mayor in Chicago. I'm sure that we've heard the last of "Chicago Politics".
Remember to wish 2 a Happy Tax Birthday tomorrow.
Hitting the hay . Make it a good Tuesday.
BCOT
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday II
Interesting news that they cancelled the first stage of the Tour of California due to weather and related road conditions. To the fans who made plans to watch the stage, it had to be a huge bummer. For the cyclists too, losing the chance to ride around the lake with before what, (on a nice day) would most certainly have been a great crowd, had to be a let down. Life's a beach. Then again, racing down the Old Brockway summit to Northstar, on wet roads with snow flurries and 38 degrees has all kinds of bad-result possibilities.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18069044?nclick_check=1 Here's a story on the cancellation.
I cut off all the "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" tags from my new couch pillows today. If the law comes to my doorstep tomorrow, I'll know why.
A year ago this weekend, I was in Boston with 3. Two years ago, we were all together celebrating 4's graduation from Iowa. Good times.
2's birthday this week.
A final positive factoid: I came across a sale on the Kenwood Jack London 2007 Cabernet at the Devils Glen Hy Vee on Friday night. They didn't have a case in stock, but the manager checked and said that he could give me the same price on a case for Tuesday delivery, AND, if I wanted two cases, he would sweeten the deal by another dollar a bottle. So anyone visiting Maplecrest in the next few weeks will definitely be sipping the good stuff.
Thanks for reading. Have a good week.
BCOT
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18069044?nclick_check=1 Here's a story on the cancellation.
I cut off all the "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" tags from my new couch pillows today. If the law comes to my doorstep tomorrow, I'll know why.
A year ago this weekend, I was in Boston with 3. Two years ago, we were all together celebrating 4's graduation from Iowa. Good times.
2's birthday this week.
A final positive factoid: I came across a sale on the Kenwood Jack London 2007 Cabernet at the Devils Glen Hy Vee on Friday night. They didn't have a case in stock, but the manager checked and said that he could give me the same price on a case for Tuesday delivery, AND, if I wanted two cases, he would sweeten the deal by another dollar a bottle. So anyone visiting Maplecrest in the next few weeks will definitely be sipping the good stuff.
Thanks for reading. Have a good week.
BCOT
Sunday
Wow! What happened to last week?
I can plead a small defense from a system-wide Blogger problem on Tuesday and Wednesday when they had a problem and all blogs were "read only" for a couple of days. Not sure what that was all about. Then I ended up with friends on a couple other evenings, and pretty soon, the week was gone. I missed writing. I'll do better this week.
I'm not exactly sure where this pic was taken today, but it was posted by a cycling fan in Tahoe in a Comments section of the live feed on Cycling News covering the Giro in Italy. Needless to say, the weather for the opening stage of the Tour of California hasn't cooperated. I spoke with Uncle Phil earlier and he said that Friday had been beautiful, but the snow and low temps perhaps made the race today a "miss-able" event. Too bad for the organizers.
The construction project on my street is now at the point where I lose my driveway entrance tomorrow. It looks like I"ll be so detoured for two weeks. I think that I'll keep a car at the office rather than park both on the street somewhere in the neighborhood.
My plan had been to post a pic here of the Truman Sports Complex in KC to formally announce the July 6 -8 FFF weekend, but Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload photos right now. Maybe later. (Here it is!) Anyway, I'm suspecting that most of us will arrive at different times on Friday, and then head back Sunday. 1.1 is working on designating the hosting hotel. The Royals are in town, so there will be some MLB involved.
The weather here hasn't been that great. Rainy, windy and cool this weekend. My ride yesterday was okay going out, but a steady rain coming home. I've been waiting around this afternoon hoping for better conditions, and it looks like there may be some sunshine breaking through. Spain is approaching and I need to suck it up and get some miles on the books. (I also did the math and it comes out that I have only 120 days before I have to start training for the Turkey Trot. Yuck!)
My letter to the editor did make the paper. http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=543551&query=wooten The original column is not available to non-subscribers for some reason. Maybe the editors figured out that it didn't belong.
I am not an Ohio State hater, but their football coach has to go. He has pretty much admitted to lying to the NCAA, was less-than-forthcoming to the school, and has been in the bunker for the last few weeks formulating a defense. His biggest defense seems to be his number of appearances in BCS games. The Tennessee basketball guy needs to go for the same reasons. The college presidents need to put on their big boy pants and show some leadership. You never get in trouble for doing the right thing.
And speaking of money talking, the college presidents are letting the Fiesta Bowl stay in the BCS pool? Exactly what conduct is worthy of expulsion?
I'll be getting back on here later.
BCOT
I can plead a small defense from a system-wide Blogger problem on Tuesday and Wednesday when they had a problem and all blogs were "read only" for a couple of days. Not sure what that was all about. Then I ended up with friends on a couple other evenings, and pretty soon, the week was gone. I missed writing. I'll do better this week.
I'm not exactly sure where this pic was taken today, but it was posted by a cycling fan in Tahoe in a Comments section of the live feed on Cycling News covering the Giro in Italy. Needless to say, the weather for the opening stage of the Tour of California hasn't cooperated. I spoke with Uncle Phil earlier and he said that Friday had been beautiful, but the snow and low temps perhaps made the race today a "miss-able" event. Too bad for the organizers.
The construction project on my street is now at the point where I lose my driveway entrance tomorrow. It looks like I"ll be so detoured for two weeks. I think that I'll keep a car at the office rather than park both on the street somewhere in the neighborhood.
My plan had been to post a pic here of the Truman Sports Complex in KC to formally announce the July 6 -8 FFF weekend, but Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload photos right now. Maybe later. (Here it is!) Anyway, I'm suspecting that most of us will arrive at different times on Friday, and then head back Sunday. 1.1 is working on designating the hosting hotel. The Royals are in town, so there will be some MLB involved.
The weather here hasn't been that great. Rainy, windy and cool this weekend. My ride yesterday was okay going out, but a steady rain coming home. I've been waiting around this afternoon hoping for better conditions, and it looks like there may be some sunshine breaking through. Spain is approaching and I need to suck it up and get some miles on the books. (I also did the math and it comes out that I have only 120 days before I have to start training for the Turkey Trot. Yuck!)
My letter to the editor did make the paper. http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=543551&query=wooten The original column is not available to non-subscribers for some reason. Maybe the editors figured out that it didn't belong.
I am not an Ohio State hater, but their football coach has to go. He has pretty much admitted to lying to the NCAA, was less-than-forthcoming to the school, and has been in the bunker for the last few weeks formulating a defense. His biggest defense seems to be his number of appearances in BCS games. The Tennessee basketball guy needs to go for the same reasons. The college presidents need to put on their big boy pants and show some leadership. You never get in trouble for doing the right thing.
And speaking of money talking, the college presidents are letting the Fiesta Bowl stay in the BCS pool? Exactly what conduct is worthy of expulsion?
I'll be getting back on here later.
BCOT
Monday, May 09, 2011
Monday
You need to double click on the picture to get a sense of the number of deer lolling-about in the shade adjacent to one of our tee-boxes at my pal Richard's golf course in Texas on Saturday afternoon. The deer were all over the place. They need to thin the herd.
The construction on my street is getting serious. Its down to a single lane, on my side of the street with them now getting ready to pour concrete on the lane on the other side. That probably means that they'll be tearing out my side of the street sometime next week, leaving me without access to my driveway for a couple of weeks. The price of progress.
I am surprised at the number of cars that ignore the "Road Closed" signs at either end of the construction zone. After normal work hours, there is a single lane open, but its definitely a mess, and people whom I assume can read just keep on piling by.
My latest literary effort (non-blog) is a letter to the editor of the the Illinois-side paper. One of their over-the-edge Lefty columnists had an entry last week asserting that all the brouha-ha against everything Obama was racially motivated. The writer is a long-time local PBS personality (?) who makes no bones about his bias. I almost wonder if he threw out the racism charge to see if anyone was reading his work.
Letters to the editor are now done on-line, of course. You need to sign your name to the letter and provide your city of residence (at least that's the rule for this paper). An assistant editor emailed me back after a couple of days to verify my existence, which seemed like the minimum due-diligence applicable for this type of thing. If it is published, I'll include it in a future entry here.
In another example of how things can go wrong in daily stuff, I received an updated itinerary Friday for my and 4's trip to Spain in August. The airlines seem to tweak schedules and various departure times may end up moving a few minutes. This was actually the second such adjustment that I had received for our tickets. I finally read this one today, and discovered that they had omitted the final leg of our return trip on the revised itinerary. Oops! (They actually had made the same error on the first revision, but that one escaped my notice. Shock!)
Long story short, it got fixed, but it took a series of emails and phone calls today to make that happen. I'm just glad I detected the issue now rather than in August. Things happen. Service people at some desk fail to click one little box and 4 and I end up over night in Detroit with an expensive ticket to get home. Hmmmm.
A rider on the Giro had a fatal crash today. Very rare in these races, but it does happen. Rule One always applies.
Thanks for reading.
BCOT
The construction on my street is getting serious. Its down to a single lane, on my side of the street with them now getting ready to pour concrete on the lane on the other side. That probably means that they'll be tearing out my side of the street sometime next week, leaving me without access to my driveway for a couple of weeks. The price of progress.
I am surprised at the number of cars that ignore the "Road Closed" signs at either end of the construction zone. After normal work hours, there is a single lane open, but its definitely a mess, and people whom I assume can read just keep on piling by.
My latest literary effort (non-blog) is a letter to the editor of the the Illinois-side paper. One of their over-the-edge Lefty columnists had an entry last week asserting that all the brouha-ha against everything Obama was racially motivated. The writer is a long-time local PBS personality (?) who makes no bones about his bias. I almost wonder if he threw out the racism charge to see if anyone was reading his work.
Letters to the editor are now done on-line, of course. You need to sign your name to the letter and provide your city of residence (at least that's the rule for this paper). An assistant editor emailed me back after a couple of days to verify my existence, which seemed like the minimum due-diligence applicable for this type of thing. If it is published, I'll include it in a future entry here.
In another example of how things can go wrong in daily stuff, I received an updated itinerary Friday for my and 4's trip to Spain in August. The airlines seem to tweak schedules and various departure times may end up moving a few minutes. This was actually the second such adjustment that I had received for our tickets. I finally read this one today, and discovered that they had omitted the final leg of our return trip on the revised itinerary. Oops! (They actually had made the same error on the first revision, but that one escaped my notice. Shock!)
Long story short, it got fixed, but it took a series of emails and phone calls today to make that happen. I'm just glad I detected the issue now rather than in August. Things happen. Service people at some desk fail to click one little box and 4 and I end up over night in Detroit with an expensive ticket to get home. Hmmmm.
A rider on the Giro had a fatal crash today. Very rare in these races, but it does happen. Rule One always applies.
Thanks for reading.
BCOT
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Sunday
Its always good to get home. I miss my own bed.
Happy Birthday to Uncle Phil. He is an Old Guy now! But he is Brother of the Day. There was a family celebration in Vegas this weekend. Maybe RevKev will provide details for those who wish they could have been there. (Hey guy, I see you came up for air! Any special inspiration? Hang in there. Its trite advice, but showing up is half the battle.)
And, coincidentally, the Amgen Tour of California starts next weekend at Tahoe. On some roads I have traversed a couple of times.
On cue, Jeter hit two dingers today.
One of the last things I did at the Marriott on Friday afternoon (after that $16 wine experience in the lobby bar!) was to take a stroll around the "backend" of the hotel. I was surprised to find an expansive waterpark with multiple pools, slides, and even a "Lazy River" ride. So my earlier observation about the hotel reminding me of a Disney World property was even more on point than I had imagined. Interesting that the property is big enough to have a very adult atmosphere for business, golf and liesure, but have this kid-oriented facility as well.
My goal this week is to get back on the bike and complete some regular training. The weather is supposed remain warmer, and my travel schedule is all local stuff.
Headed to bed. Have a good week.
BCOT
Friday, May 06, 2011
Friday
Another warm and sunny day in San Antonio. In another time, I would have ventured downtown to check out the scene on the River Walk last night, but my disinterest in traffic and the hassle of parking, made the open bottle of wine at my hotel an easy choice. I doubt if The Alamo has changed much since my last time through town a few years back.
Still a couple more sessions of abuse this afternoon. I'm taking away from this conference a concern that my business will need to be tweaked in no small way to accommodate the new Department of Labor rules that are scheduled to become effective January 1, 2011. Lots of disclosures, documentation, policies and procedures that make an advisor's life uncomfortable. And that's not just because no one's coming for the bull. (Remember that one, 4?)
The Friday NYT crossword got me this morning. The rules in my mind have been that the Friday puzzle is hard, but not a "trick" puzzle. Today's was definitely a "trick" puzzle with half the solutions requiring a vertically inverted solution to the down words on the right hand side of the puzzle. Very cool, but I wasn't expecting the "trick". Goes to show ya', when you aren't looking for it, reality hits you head on.
Interesting days as the nation digests the elimination of OBL. Sounds as though Seal Team 6 did a clinical assassination of one of the worst bad guys. Now the politicians and their spokes-people are in "spin" mode and that story continues to unfold. The over-riding incongruity is to watch/listen to the Left reconcile their built-in reluctance's toward military solutions with the windfall-ish rewards of this publicly-welcomed event occurring on the watch of this President.
Personally, I find it hard to justify random (or organized for that matter) public celebrations for this kind of thing. The soldiers want to remain in the shadows. The target played in the trade of death, so I have no qualms about our guys taken him down (whether he was armed or not). Let's just keep pedaling on this front too. There are other enemies. Get after the new Number One. And keep giving thanks to our guys out there in the dark.
Then there's light-hitting Derek Jeter who hasn't found his stroke for the Yankees yet this season. It makes GM Brian Cashman look prescient when he drug his heals in giving Jeter an open-ended check on the contract last Winter. I hope Jeter can come around and be at least a little productive. A slow bat doesn't last long in The Show. Nor do 37 year old shortstops.
More later.
BCOT
Still a couple more sessions of abuse this afternoon. I'm taking away from this conference a concern that my business will need to be tweaked in no small way to accommodate the new Department of Labor rules that are scheduled to become effective January 1, 2011. Lots of disclosures, documentation, policies and procedures that make an advisor's life uncomfortable. And that's not just because no one's coming for the bull. (Remember that one, 4?)
The Friday NYT crossword got me this morning. The rules in my mind have been that the Friday puzzle is hard, but not a "trick" puzzle. Today's was definitely a "trick" puzzle with half the solutions requiring a vertically inverted solution to the down words on the right hand side of the puzzle. Very cool, but I wasn't expecting the "trick". Goes to show ya', when you aren't looking for it, reality hits you head on.
Interesting days as the nation digests the elimination of OBL. Sounds as though Seal Team 6 did a clinical assassination of one of the worst bad guys. Now the politicians and their spokes-people are in "spin" mode and that story continues to unfold. The over-riding incongruity is to watch/listen to the Left reconcile their built-in reluctance's toward military solutions with the windfall-ish rewards of this publicly-welcomed event occurring on the watch of this President.
Personally, I find it hard to justify random (or organized for that matter) public celebrations for this kind of thing. The soldiers want to remain in the shadows. The target played in the trade of death, so I have no qualms about our guys taken him down (whether he was armed or not). Let's just keep pedaling on this front too. There are other enemies. Get after the new Number One. And keep giving thanks to our guys out there in the dark.
Then there's light-hitting Derek Jeter who hasn't found his stroke for the Yankees yet this season. It makes GM Brian Cashman look prescient when he drug his heals in giving Jeter an open-ended check on the contract last Winter. I hope Jeter can come around and be at least a little productive. A slow bat doesn't last long in The Show. Nor do 37 year old shortstops.
More later.
BCOT
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Thursday...UPDATED
Greetings from San Antonio! I'll get my own pics up later, but here is one off the web that captures the feel of the CW Marriott Hill Country Resort where the conference is being held. (It is also the location for the recently completed PGA tour event, The Valero Texas Open. The golf course is a TPC course, one in the same system as the Quad City course used for the John Deere tournament in July.)
For the record, I'm staying at a Quality Inn a few miles away at $65 per night rather than the $200+ per night here (plus resort fees, etc.). LtPC is a little on the cheap side of the line. With a grocery store and a wine shop nearby.
Travel yesterday was relatively incident-free. My connection was in Memphis, an airport that I don't recall ever visiting. I had to change concourses, but had plenty of time to do so. Both of the planes that I was on were the smaller ones with just two seats on either side of the aisle, and not that many total seats, maybe 60 or so. Not sure how the airlines make money on these small planes.
As I mentioned on Twitter, I had packed larger containers of toothpaste and shampoo than allowed for in carry-on luggage. Funny how the mind works: I had consciously left a wine opener off my packing list, but didn't even consider the rules for the hygiene products. And Murphy's Law was almost certain to apply as I just knew that the bag would be gate-checked. But since I would have access to the bag while in the terminal in Memphis, I can't really gripe all that much. It was my error.
It took less than a week for a small spilling of wine on the new couch. What a shock! I like the fact that the leather doesn't seem to stain. Even the pillows that I bought are dark enough that I shouldn't have any noticeable wine highlights. We'll see how it performs in the first Winniferous test.
The keynote speaker at the conference this morning was former U.S. senator from Connecticut, Christopher Dodd. Here he is in a pic with his buddy.What a blowhard! He's the guy on the financial reform law from last year, the Dodd-Frank bill. His speech was what you would expect from a guy who sees himself as a public servant with only the public in mind. I repeat, what a blowhard!
More here later during the afternoon session.
NOW LATER.....
The last session...a welcome event. Actually, the speakers today have been pretty good (after Dodd). Including a couple of attorneys whom I've heard numerous times. I never feel real good after listening to them, but I do know that they know their stuff.
This is a program sponsor who doesn't print a full binder of speaker outlines. The booklet handed out has the agenda, CPE turn-in forms, evaluation forms, and some speaker profiles. The session outlines are available online and I will print off at least a couple for reference purposes. I wouldn't call it "going green". I just think that it reflects the reality that this is a group that is highly technical and does everything else as paperless as possible, why give us hard copy that will ultimately get shredded? That we have to carry home?
After one day, I consider this facility an upper-tier operation. It was obviously built to handle larger groups, is well-staffed, and doesn't skimp on the little things. I paid a discounted fee of $750 in November to the program sponsor for the two day event. My guess is that the average fee paid was between $800 - $900. At 500 attendees, you're getting close to a half million dollars of revenue. Hmmmm. The sponsor could pay $100,000 a day to the resort, and still come out ahead.
Lots of the IPad (or comparables) in use by the the attendees. I continue to feel that this Dell laptop is a dinosaur/doorstop.
It's gotta be five o'clock somewhere,
BCOT
For the record, I'm staying at a Quality Inn a few miles away at $65 per night rather than the $200+ per night here (plus resort fees, etc.). LtPC is a little on the cheap side of the line. With a grocery store and a wine shop nearby.
Travel yesterday was relatively incident-free. My connection was in Memphis, an airport that I don't recall ever visiting. I had to change concourses, but had plenty of time to do so. Both of the planes that I was on were the smaller ones with just two seats on either side of the aisle, and not that many total seats, maybe 60 or so. Not sure how the airlines make money on these small planes.
As I mentioned on Twitter, I had packed larger containers of toothpaste and shampoo than allowed for in carry-on luggage. Funny how the mind works: I had consciously left a wine opener off my packing list, but didn't even consider the rules for the hygiene products. And Murphy's Law was almost certain to apply as I just knew that the bag would be gate-checked. But since I would have access to the bag while in the terminal in Memphis, I can't really gripe all that much. It was my error.
It took less than a week for a small spilling of wine on the new couch. What a shock! I like the fact that the leather doesn't seem to stain. Even the pillows that I bought are dark enough that I shouldn't have any noticeable wine highlights. We'll see how it performs in the first Winniferous test.
The keynote speaker at the conference this morning was former U.S. senator from Connecticut, Christopher Dodd. Here he is in a pic with his buddy.What a blowhard! He's the guy on the financial reform law from last year, the Dodd-Frank bill. His speech was what you would expect from a guy who sees himself as a public servant with only the public in mind. I repeat, what a blowhard!
More here later during the afternoon session.
NOW LATER.....
The last session...a welcome event. Actually, the speakers today have been pretty good (after Dodd). Including a couple of attorneys whom I've heard numerous times. I never feel real good after listening to them, but I do know that they know their stuff.
This is a program sponsor who doesn't print a full binder of speaker outlines. The booklet handed out has the agenda, CPE turn-in forms, evaluation forms, and some speaker profiles. The session outlines are available online and I will print off at least a couple for reference purposes. I wouldn't call it "going green". I just think that it reflects the reality that this is a group that is highly technical and does everything else as paperless as possible, why give us hard copy that will ultimately get shredded? That we have to carry home?
After one day, I consider this facility an upper-tier operation. It was obviously built to handle larger groups, is well-staffed, and doesn't skimp on the little things. I paid a discounted fee of $750 in November to the program sponsor for the two day event. My guess is that the average fee paid was between $800 - $900. At 500 attendees, you're getting close to a half million dollars of revenue. Hmmmm. The sponsor could pay $100,000 a day to the resort, and still come out ahead.
Lots of the IPad (or comparables) in use by the the attendees. I continue to feel that this Dell laptop is a dinosaur/doorstop.
It's gotta be five o'clock somewhere,
BCOT
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Sunday AM
Happy May Day! Consistent with our Spring weather here, the high today will be in the mid-50's, windy, and then a chance of rain later on. At least the sun is out for now.
I struggled with productivity this past week. There was a little travel-hangover from Lincoln to start with, then I had the challenge of moving my old couch to the basement, which took most of two nights. And then there was the stress from the IRS visit. An audit always makes me at least a little uncomfortable (which encourages preparation), but this one is far from ordinary. A return in the bell curve's third or fourth standard deviation (is there a fourth?) with permutations so obscure that it makes your head swim.
My pal Bill and I always have some post-April 15th ideas to improve our situation for the next tax season. This year is no different and I hope that we are more successful in implementing some changes for 2011. Its usually a matter of staffing. Too many projects. Not enough cooks in the kitchen. You would think that after 25+ years that we would have it figured out better.
I've thrown up the white flag on my auto-forward option for my desk phone at the office. I had rationalized in mid-March that leaving the desk unit on auto-forward to my cell phone, always, was the efficient answer to missed calls or the vicious circle of trading calls. Unfortunately, there are a couple of fundamental mis-steps in that logic: 1) a much higher number of solicitation calls get through without a "gatekeeper" assistant, and 2) the software embedded in the mother-board of the phone system produces very curious secondary and tertiary results. None of which would interest the peanut gallery. Whatever.
My pal Roy and his wife spent some serious time last week at the Loueve, the Eiffel Tower, and the Notre Dame Cathedral while in Paris. Roy has some feet problems, and he was well over the edge of how much walking he needed. What he needed was a park bench. All in all though, I think it was not a bad trip. No canceled flights, or room mix-ups.
I've had this thought that 2011 could be one of those memorable years for the fam. The girls each have big events going on in their lives. Jobs. Family. Relocation's. Travel. Anyone ready for a separate blog with author-access to all for recurring entries on the progress we each are making on our journeys? Just an idea.
Here's a hat-tip to 3 for handling an extremely busy week filled with travel, contrary clients, and the other usual stuff of the fast lane frequented by Wall Street financial analysts (actually Broad Street, but you get the drift). In her honor, I'm throwing some props to Herky for his birthday last week. I snapped this pic of him at a ball game a few years back.
Lots to get done here today. I'll jump back on here after I've got some of those tasks handled. It's a new day.
BCOT
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