Monday

I'm going to use the weather as my excuse for not getting back to the blog over the weekend.  It remains unseasonably mild here, and my pal Ron and I played 18 holes at Geneva both Saturday and Sunday.  Two rounds on our home course in December?  Not what you would normally expect.  And that Sunday round was one that neither of us planned to do after we were done on Saturday.  It was a moon-and-the-stars kind of thing.

The big story on my golf game is that new belly-putter.  My primary thoughts behind the acquisition had originally been, 1) my putting in 2012 had been so bad that some kind of change needed to be made, and 2) my pal Ron was/is a golfing traditionalist and even the concept of the belly-putter really gets under his skin. Without any pre-planning, I pulled one off the rack in the Geneva pro-shop when we were just hanging out before our Saturday round, and told the pro that I wanted to test it out.  The timing seemed right.

Well, I had almost instant success on the course, and my store-credits in the pro-shop took a big hit.  (The pro admitted that I had randomly picked the most expensive putter in his inventory.)  One round of good results doesn't mean much in golf, but with Sunday being another good day, I'm optimistic about that lowered handicap goal in 2013.  (Plus, the $7 I took from Ron over the weekend equated to an immediate discount on the purchase!)

The college football bowl line-up seems to be set.  The big news is that one-loss Northern Illinois (that loss being to Iowa in September!) bumped Oklahoma out of an at-large BCS game.  But they get Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, which could be one of the best games in the mess. I couldn't quickly find the financial impact of BCS vs. non-BCS games, but I'm sure that it is millions.  In the conferences, the schools split the combined payouts, to some degree, so ultimately, one school's benefit/detriment is mollified.  Except for ND, that keeps all the schekels.

This fiscal cliff debate is annoying.  David Walker is on CNBC again this morning talking from a non-partisan perspective, and every other guest just spouts their respective party's talking points.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/opinion/tallying-the-debt-the-ex-comptroller-generals-view.html?_r=0  I've cited David Walker before here on the blog.  He is legit.  And still holds an active CPA certificate in Florida. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Walker_%28U.S._Comptroller_General%29

One of the more committed runners from the local Gold's gym was with a group forming at Dunn's for a Sunday training run yesterday morning.  She had done the New York marathon in prior years and I asked her if she had been caught up in the Sandy debacle.  While she had been scheduled to run, her travel had not started before the cancellation, and she got that ticket refunded.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324355904578155361133154162.html  Sounds like the whole business of refunds on that event is still up in the air.

As a substitute race to make her training count, she's going down to Cancun for a marathon next Sunday.  Not sure if a Caribbean marathon is that appealing anytime of year.  It looks like they have run the race at night in prior years to beat the heat.  This year they will be going off at 0530.

Hope the week is a good one.  December!

BCOT