Friday

Well. that Turkey Trot was one for the books.  It was really a nice morning.  Cool, but sunny and not much wind.  It took me a little longer than the last couple of years (ever!) to get up the Main Street hill, but I had a good second mile, a decent third mile, and a reasonable fourth mile.  (My pal Ron snapped this one of me during the second mile.)

But as I made my way through mile five, things didn't look real promising for a clocking of under an hour.  I attribute that to a late start of training this year because of the Europe trip, and a lack of a training partner.  But that head-over-heels tumble near the finish with 1.01 gave my official time as "DNF".

But when it comes to Turkey Trots to Remember, this one will always be near the top of the list.  Next year, will be another effort to meet that one-hour goal.

I spoke this AM with my pal Tim who is an owner of the timing company (The End Result) that had the contract for the race for the first time this year.  I was surprised to see them use a returnable chip for the runners, thinking that it was old technology.  He said that they still use the chips in lots of races as the disposable chips cost the races $1 per runner, and to lots of races, that's real money.

The hassle factor for his company must be the same for disposable/returnable.  I'd think that maintaining the returnables would be more of a nuisance, but he was very blasé on that argument. I guess that if your acquisition cost for the chips has already been amortized, re-using them again is a low (no?)-cost service model.

The birthday party for 1.1 and @srh4 was a success on Wednesday night. 2 made sure that we had party hats.  There was a story on who made the cake...or who had to re-make the cake...but I forget those details.

Party tonight at 2's.  Pics to follow.

BCOT

Turkey Day

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Sunday

We've had a blast of Arctic weather this weekend.  Single digits this AM.  I'm not really sure whether that constitutes "unseasonable cold" or not...but it IS cold.

It was a successful visit from my pal Jake Thursday and Friday.  We spent a lot of time with our pal Pete...quite a bit of wine and lots of replays of old stories.  I'm not sure if this pic needs any futher explanation.

I had never been to the casino/hotel that they built a couple years back on the Illinois side.  But we were looking to change things up a bit and we figured that there had to be a couple of bars in the casino.  There were, but nothing very impressive...and a limited wine list.  I wasn't expecting the casino's controlled, secure entry arrangement where each patron was required to show a picture ID.  There wasn't a sports book.  Over all, it wasn't Vegas.  We elected to just go to the bar which was walled-off from the casino.

These gals were entirely window-dressing.  There was no show/revue or anything.  They were just walking around greeting customers and posing for pics.  The bar was on their circuit.

Moving on...

Props to all of our teams for victories yesterday.  We haven't had many Saturday's when all three had success.  The Hawks' victory was especially good since they gave up a pick-six on their first offensive play of the game, and were down by two TD's at the half.  Really, they lost the turn-over battle, failed on two first-half field goal attempts, and were playing against the wind in that fourth quarter.  So they shouldn't have won.  ND had to play well to beat BYU...it sure looked cold there.  And I know it was cold in Ames.  In all cases, I was glad I was inside watching the tube rather than out in the elements.

I have photographer friend Mark lined-up for family pics this week.  Somebody needs to make a choice on the best time and place for the session.  Wednesday night?  Thursday?

Not much else from here.  I entered this from the laptop on Maplecrest and Blogger locked-up again as I was getting set to publish.  I really think that I will make the move to the other platform...for which I have already paid the first year fee.  Really tired of these techie issues.

(And I have a tech issue at the office that has been driving me nuts.  The new data software that I bought last week is just fine.  But it "Saves" on an Adobe protocol.  Our LAN is programmed to use another pdf package for the SAVE function, and that is overriding the new program.  So I'm now printing from the new software, and then scanning those printed copies to create an electronic file that I can transmit through the computer.  Can you say, "Dumbing down?")

Looking forward to FFF.  Travel safe.

BCOT

Thursday

Day II of Chinese Water Torture. (Sorry. I know that that has to be a racist reference.)

That experience at the wine shop last night was totally unexpected. I had gone in to pick up a mixed-case for 2 as a contribution to her Festival of Trees party this coming weekend. (She's the chair of one of the opening parties and they're having a raffle on a selection of wines and liquor.) So I just went to my normal area in the store for mid-range Cabernet's and started pulling bottles. And that was when I noticed that the posted price for our fam's wine currency was just $9.99!!

I pulled three of the J Lohr's for the case, and that price allowed me add three bottles of $25 wines and keep my average price below $20 for the case.




(My pal Pete split the case with me.) I'm not a big fan of FOT, but props to 2 for giving up her time to support the program.

It was then a matter of math to conclude that adding a case of JL to the Maplecrest inventory was a no-brainer. With Freakshow also down to $16.99, and with 1's request for that at Thanksgiving, I leapt off the curb and went all in for the third case. It reminded me of my experience at the Total Wine store in Reno when we stocked-up for 07282012. Very cool.


After the wine shopping, 2 and I met up at the restaurant Crust (on 53rd Street across from The Red Crow). They have a 1/2 price deal on bottled-wine on Wednesday nights. The place was packed, but we scored a couple of chairs at the end of the bar. They were out of the Jack London Cab, so I went for the Jordan. Of course, I misread the price on the wine list...it sure looked like $57 to me...$28.50 being a good deal. The 5 was actually an 8. Whatever.



I love my experiences at Geneva on Wednesday nights. But try out this math: It takes me around 40 minutes to get there (and the same coming back, of course.) The Jack London price in Muskie is $65 (after my outrage when they tried it at $85 this Spring). OR...I can go to Crust...taking approximately 4 minutes (again, both ways!)...and pay $23 for the same bottle of Jack London!! The Geneva Club Manager still thinks he's selling the JL too cheap. (My pal Roy says that the answer is to just use his wine stock and pay the corking fee rather than to pay the club rates. It's a possibility.)

I've run into a lot of acquaintances at this conference over the last couple of days. When you've been working in the same community for 33+ years, you've met a lot of people. Interestingly, this group (150 or so) is not very young, collectively. Not sure what that means. Then again, I reiterate my position: if I was a younger man, I would definitely be looking at a career change; I have no interest in being a professional enforcer for the Affordable Health Care Act.

My pal Jake's Pants is coming into town this evening for a couple of nights. Ostensibly to get his returns handled. Hmmm. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about taxes. In between other topics.

Wrapping up here at the Seminar From Hell. Thanks for reading.

BCOT

(For the record, this entry was a combination of Blogspot on the iPad and the iPhone...AND some final editing on Blogger on the iPad.  So the paragraph breaks and picture positioning are erratic.  I can't control these things on mobile entry.  Sorry.)


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Wednesday

This is coming to you from my continuing education session over at the iWireless Center in Moline with about 150 of my other close friends. We've already had 2 hours of the Affordable Health Care Act. And now there's an IRS agent at the mic lamenting her experience at the unemployment office last month. She didn't offer up whether she double-dipped or paid anything back.

I'm still trying to resolve a software problem with a new program that I acquired last week to populate multiple forms for my securities clients. The idea is that you input client data only once, and the software can then transfer the data to the proper lines of most any of the various forms that might be required for that client. Unfortunately, there seems to be a disconnect between the "Save" function in the software, and the Adobe Acrobat software that is used to read the completed/partially completed forms. I can't express how frustrating it is to have a procedure designed for efficiency fail to launch as advertised. Stay tuned.

I think I saw a spot on the news within the last day or two that Walmart has declared this coming Friday as their "Black Friday" to officially start their Christmas shopping season. Interesting. Since Thanksgiving is so late, and the traditional Black Friday that follows thus yields a shortened shopping season, Walmart's marketer's have come up with a fairly creative solution. Now, the question is whether the public will embrace the concept. If Walmart is doing this, look for the other Big Boxes to follow. With the Holiday Season accounting for a huge percentage of most retailer's annual sales, and with competition so diverse, there are no rules as to what might be tried to get customers through the door. This has little impact on my Christmas Eve shopping schedule.


Davenport has a Thanksgiving parade scheduled for this Saturday. They have patterned this event after the Macy's parade with large balloon creatures as the featured "floats" in the parade. The weather forecast calls for temps in the low '20's with gusty winds. Hmmmm. Cold. Windy. Balloons. Not the best combination. I'm taking the Over that there will either be a limit on the balloon displays, or there will be an incident of some sort as the handlers deal with the weather. Again, not an item on my schedule.

Time for lunch. I may come back later.

BCOT
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Tuesday

Welcome to Tuesday.  Bright and sunny here...but cool.

I see where the business news top story this AM is actually about one of the newscasters, Maria Bartiromo, rather than the news.  That pretty much illustrates one of the biggest problems with today's media...the personalities reporting the news get elevated to positions above the actual news itself.  This gal has been with CNBC (or the NBC network) for 20 years, and appears to be cashing in with a move to FOX News.

On the other hand, NBC could be seeing this as their Albert Pujols moment, and letting Maria go to another network for a big number may actually be a net-win for them.  I think Maria's time of capturing viewers because of her looks/personality has passed, and I wouldn't be surprised if she has trouble upping the viewership of whatever time slot FOX gives her.  I think that the business news audience wants data, and a pretty face goes only so far.  We'll see.

Lots of stories out there today about President Lincoln and the Gettysburg address.  This pic is obviously a contemporary rendition of the scene at the time.  I know that I memorized the speech in my grade school days.  Can you imagine a President today doing a major speech in 3-4 minutes?  That would be remembered for 150 years?

I was surprised to learn that Mr. College Basketball, Dick Vitale, had never been to a game at Hilton Coliseum in Ames before the Michigan game on Sunday afternoon.  (Not that I am much of a Dickie V fan.)  He always has had great things to say about the 'Clones and had surely been told of the electricity that that building can generate.  Why wouldn't he have made the trip before?  Then again, Hoiberg's resurrection of the program may have been what it took to get DV's notice.  Whatever.  Great win for ISU.

The coach of Augie's basketball team was telling me the other day about the scheduling problems he runs into for his non-conference games.  Teams generally don't like to come to Rock Island to get beat-up upon, and so Augie ends up with fewer home games this time of year than they would prefer.  When you add in the travel costs as a limiting factor, stronger programs at smaller schools just have fewer choices.  Its not like D-I football where less-accomplished teams visit the bigger schools for a guaranteed payday.  (And I think I mentioned here last year that the D-III teams can't play comparable schools in the NAIA and get credit for their at-large resume for the tournament.  More NCAA bureaucracy.)

I'm giving 1.02 the designation of Grandson of the Day.  Looks like there was a meeting between him and an immovable object over the weekend!  Not to worry.  All superficial damage.  It may not be the last such incident for this little guy.    You 'da man, Kiddo!

Make it a good Tuesday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Sunday

There is not particular reason for these pics other than that they are about the oldest ones that I have here on my desktop.  My blog entries always generate more interest with some visual enhancements, so this is the best I can do for today.

We had that very unseasonably warm weather this AM, and have had one band of storms pass through in the last couple of hours.  Windy.  And the forecast is for the temps to go cooler during the rest of the day.  Global warming for sure, Al.

I met with my pal Pete for second coffee and we figured out that this year is the absolute shortest time that can happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We think.  If Thanksgiving is to be on the fourth Thursday in November, it can be no later in the month than the 28th.  Which it is this year.  So those Salvation Army bells will actually be ringing a shorter time this year than normal.  Small benefits.

Fran McCaffery, the Iowa basketball coach, was quoted in the paper this morning about the competition level of today's opponent, Abilene Christian, a school in its first year of D-I.  The Hawks have yet to play either away from campus, or against anyone who would scare the scheduler.  I know most bigger programs tend to do this in the early games, but really Coach, can't you find some schools who at least have a chance against ya?

On a different path, The Mayor and his 'Clones have Michigan visiting Hilton this afternoon.  Johnny Orr will be in the house.

I'm going out to get in a TT training run between raindrops.  Maybe more later.

BCOT

Friday

So I'm going back to a Home page pic that never gets old.  Hello Sand Harbor!

I was thinking last night on my TT training run that eight years (as in the blog's anniversary yesterday) is a LONG time!!  As a person gets older, the percentage of your life represented by an eight year segment gets progressively smaller as that denominator marches ever higher.  But even now, eight years is 12% to the Lt.PC on the life line.  Not an insignificant amount of time.

And I was thinking about the significant eight-year spans that could be defined in my post-high school life.  And the events that made them significant, not just the passage of time.  Among them:

1.  1968 - 1976.  This was a busy one.  All of my original history related to ND, the USAF, grad school MBA in Iowa City, marriage to @srh4, and the start of the Chicago era came in these years.

2.  1980 - 1988.  The relocation to Iowa, the birth of or four girls, the IPO (Initial Private Offering) of my own business and the introductions of my pals Bill and Pete.

3.  There's a couple of over-lapping periods in the '90's and early 2000's that contain the construction of our office building, the early education of the girls, the new house in Bettendorf, family travel and the passing of grandparents.  I have to think too hard right now to properly delineate these years.

4.  I'm thinking that the last eight-year segment has been the best one ever.  At least two college graduations, a Masters degree, two weddings, two grandchildren, three trips to Europe, the all-family reunion in Tahoe, and countless other excursions.

If the next eight years go as quickly and as successfully as the last eight, I will have been a very lucky man.

Have a great weekend!

BCOT

Thursday

Its that time of year again.  Another annual anniversary of 4000 Days.  Here's that previously displayed first entry from November 14, 2005. 

On a math basis, the 8-Year anniversary marks around 73% of the original time estimate.  That seems like a lot...from starting at zero.  But 1080 more days seems like a lot too.  Then again, if you look backwards from today to a point 1000 days ago, we're talking about October 2010 which would have been the Fall after the July all-family reunion in Tahoe.  And that doesn't seem so far back.

More here later in celebration of the day.

BCOT

 

 

 

Wednesday

The new Home Page pic is just a random shot of my bike along the seawall in Salerno.  Nothing particularly significant about the time or the ride.  Just the fact that the bike that's normal resting place is on Maplecrest found it's way to the Amalfi Coast in Italia.

The dinner at the Bettendorf Convention Center last night was for the local Republicans annual yee-hah to remember the Good Old Days of Ronald Reagan.  I had a client kinda twist my arm to take an open seat at their table created when he had received a late cancellation.  I was mildly curious of the numbers and composition of those who might be in attendance, so I elected to accept his invitation.

Some take-away's from the event:

1.  The Left would have been pleased to report that the crowd was exclusively White, predominately older, and the oratory was very predictable.

2.  They had a string-quartet playing tea-room music during the cocktail hour.  It gave the room a lethargic, visitation-like feel.  If this was their idea of a pep-rally, the R's are in deep do-do.

3.  Cash bar.  That really rev's up a crowd.

4.  The silent auction had numerous items that they would have had trouble giving away!

5.  Scott Brown, the literally one-time Senator from Massachusetts, gave an uninspiring stump speech that emphasized compromise, both within the party, and across the aisle.  Hmmm.  Was he speaking to the media reps (or Left moles) in attendance, or to his audience?  Red meat it wasn't.

6.  The undercard of (way too many) speakers included Iowa Governor Branstad who got in his best line when going through a litany of economic/financial differences between Iowa and Illinois and said, "Look at their former governor's.  Most are in jail!  I came back and got re-elected!" A true statement.

7.  Four individuals who have announce candidacies for the R nomination to the US Senate seat up for grabs next year when Tom Harken, a long-serving Democrat will not run for re-election, gave short, introductory schpiels on themselves.  (The Democrats have already anointed current Eastern Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley as their candidate.)  Braley will win against any of these choices.

8.  A two-hour program (that admittedly included some down time for the main course), after a 75+ minute cocktail hour, is way too long to hold a Tuesday night audience.

9.  I'm convinced that preaching the truth doesn't really matter in most elections.  Promise enough, trash the opponent, get your supporters to the polls, and if you have a bigger turnout, you win.

10.  Brown kept mentioning 2016.  Ugh!  Does this stuff ever stop?

I'm thinking that I may head down to Geneva tonight and drink some of my pal Roy's select wines.  He keeps saying that he is "long" on wine in his house.

Make it a good day in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Monday

In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm offering up a Top Ten List of Air Force memories.

1. One of the primary reasons that I chose Pangborn as my residence hall for junior and senior years at ND was because of its proximity to the ROTC building.  I was able to go in uniform to my ROTC classes and stop at the dorm to change back to civvies for other classes, meals or sports.

2.  My boot camp experience was between junior and senior years in Charleston, SC.  30 days of pure hell.  They played reveille on the loud speaker system at oh-dark-hundred.  Awful sounds!

3.  I reported to my first duty station at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX in June or July 1971.  A 90-day training school for Vehicle Transportation Officers.  AKA "Motor Pool" school.

4.  I lived in the BOQ (Bachelor Officer's Quarters) for the first few weeks that I lived in Dover, DE.  Basically, dorm living.  I eventually met another lieutenant with an extra bedroom and moved into my first apartment...in a complex with lots of other USAF personnel.

5.  That first year at Dover was a mystery.  6 days on and 2 days off.  Rotate shifts weekly (Days, swings, graves).  That roommate was on another crew working the same job...but always on a different shift, of course...and I never saw him.

6.  The second year was a true "Motor Pool" year and was pretty enjoyable.  Days.  Weekends free.  A civilian in the chair next to me who basically told me what to do.  Lots of weekends with friends in DC.

7.  Year three in remote Korea.   Yeah, that wasn't a lot of fun, but it was the reason I ultimately ended up as a CPA.  I had these mechanics working for me who I thought were so skilled that they would always have a good job.  Me?  A college grad with no defined trade.  I decided that I needed to get some specificity in my education...which eventually lead to the MBA program in IC.

8.  Travis AFB in the Bay Area was my departure and arrival point for the Korea year.


9.  The GI bill paid for my MBA at Iowa, my Masters in Tax from DePaul, and the CPA review course that got be passed that exam on the first try.  (The President might say that I "didn't build" that resume, but I'd say that there was a fair exchange.)

10.  I am wearing today one of the USAF uniform shirts that has made it through the years with me. (Selfie!)

OK.  So there wasn't too much new in that list.  Let's do one more that might offer up just a little insight and humor into this digest.  With some USAF theme.

1.  The enlisted airmen who were in the Base Communications office that day in 1971 when I reported to Sheppard convinced me to put my lieutenant bars on my shirt vertically rather than in the correct horizontal positions.  Yeah, those new 2nd Looie's have no clue!!

2.  Aunt Margaret was not all that impressed with my efforts to "pick-up" one of her divorced friends that week I spent in SF before I left for Korea in 1973.  I'm thinking that Uncle Howard may have encouraged me. 

3.  I did commit the classic "You gotta be kiddin' me!" error while I was in Korea.  I confused myself and sent an at least R-rated letter meant for my Dover roommate to Mother.  Hmmm.  That didn't go over well.  Kinda like today hitting "Reply All" when sending a snarky email response meant for only a limited few.  Daddy sent a reply asking some tough questions about the stories in the mis-mailed letter.

4.  It was in Korea that I first heard the term "skosh" to describe a small amount of anything.  I thought it was a Korean term, but it looks in Wiki like it may be Japanese.  I've often thought it was just a military term that made its way around the services.  Whatever.  Today, its most applicable at Starbuck's to describe the amount of "room" needed to doctor one's coffee.

5.  I vividly remember one very late night in remote Delaware demanding to get out of a speeding car driven by a very angry and intoxicated guy who was off the reservation (another racist usage, I know).  He consented, finally, and my date and I had to walk several miles to get a cab/phone/whatever to get home.  Still a good move.

6.  I spent numerous weekends while stationed at Dover in the DC area.  My ND roommate was there working for the FDIC, and there was a St. Mary's girl who I knew who would show us around on her visits home.  Really got to enjoy the bar scene in the Georgetown area those times.  Except for that once when we ended up in a gay bar...even back then.

7.  There was quite a bit of graft in Korea that went on under my naïve nose.  Local contractors were used for painting of vehicles, small construction jobs on base, and various recurring tasks like hauling/delivery of goods.  As the Base Vehicle Maintenance Officer, I was in a position that I'm sure had received lots of side benefits in prior years (and probably after as well).  On that schematic at least, the NYT could do a Palin-dig and find my slate pretty clean.

8.  I played against several D-I players at Dover in the base basketball league.  The pilots, many of whom would have been academy guys, had a team that usually cleaned up.  I was the White Officer Guy on our team of enlisted men.

9.  I may not have ever previously mentioned that I spent three months of duty in Rantoul, Illinois (near StL) in 1973 to get specific training for the Korea gig.  Rantoul was a forgettable experience, because I have absolutely no memory of that time.

10.  Getting on that plane in September 1974 to come back to the States after having been gone for over a year was a truly memorable feeling.  They weren't there filming an episode of MASH (which happened to first hit the tube in 1972), but there was applause, both on take-off and landing.

All for today.  Thanks to all for the good wishes.

BCOT

Sunday

Just a brief note to get the Home Page pic updated to be ready for Veteran's Day.

Really glad that I didn't stay up to watch the Irish lose at Pitt.  I had seen them take the lead at 21-14 before I headed to bed, but it didn't look like they had the ability to stop the Pitt offense.  Then I guess QB Rees tried to play catch with a Pitt d-back.  Welcome to the Dust Bowl in Abeline on December 22nd.

And very glad to see the Hawks take care of business at Purdue.  Now the question is, "Can they play with Michigan and Nebraska?"

1.1 gets the designation of Son-in-Law of the Day with his completion today of the Madison marathon.  Not a small achievement to get his second marathon done inside of 40 days.  He IS motivated!

I've had the Bears' game on while I've doing some indoor chores this afternoon and I see that players on the Chicago sideline are wearing camouflage caps and sweatshirts in tribute to Veteran's Day.  Kinda like the pink caps and towels last month for Breast Cancel Awareness.  Hmmm.  How much is too much recognition?  Like let's celebrate Outer Mongolian Day in NYC?

This would have been the type of weekend that I waited for at our Scott Street house to swap out the screens for the storm windows.  Warm-ish for the season and likely one of the last where working outside didn't require full-winter gear.  I'd do caulking and some touch-up painting of the window casings.as well.  That was such a drafty place!!  I don't miss those chores.  It might have been a classic looking home, but all of the mechanical systems needed work.  And Mr. Fix-it I wasn't.  (I just pulled this pic off the county web site.  Much the same as 20 years ago.)

My technology schemes are in disarray.  I've had to change numerous passwords in the last couple of weeks, and I keep forgetting them.  And the switching back between iPhone, iPad, desktop and laptop has the Yahho/Google/NSA's underwear all bunched-up.  I'm repeatedly asked to reenter my password for various applications as I may have been on another device shortly before hitting one of the others.  And since I haven't got the passwords commited to memory, I have to go through the "Forgot Password" option.  Which leads to more challenges.  It's a lot to ask of a senior citizen.

Speaking of wich, I am now on the mailing list of the Notre Dame Senior Alumni.  Like I want to be further reminded of that status.

Here's a special shout-out to 4...Have a great weekend, Kiddo!  Enjoy your weekend.

OK.  I might get back here later with a couple of updates.  2's coming over for a little BBQ in a while.  And I've put off some yard wok as long as possible before I lose daylight.

BCOT

Friday

Looks like a good weather day in River City.  If the frost coverings the last two mornings didn't kill the allergens in the air around here, nothing will.

Now I'm wondering if my problems with Blogger can be traced to an older version of Explorer on this desktop.  With my change in vendors that I have noted earlier, and the previous limitations imposed on my old vendor's software now irrelevant, I have now uploaded Explorer version 11 and I'm already seeing some functionality improvements.

I was surprised to find a couple of high-profile football games on the tube last night.  What do you suppose the payoff was for Oklahoma-Baylor and Stanford-Oregon to play their games on a Thursday night?  And I couldn't even find the Sooner game on my million-channel DirecTV line-up.  For four ranked teams to go at it on a Thursday, the dollars had to be significant.  Kinda takes away from a traditional football Saturday for the fans, doesn't it?  "Clones fans should take heart in the beating that Baylor meted out to Oklahoma.  It wasn't 70 points, but it wasn't a close game either.

Twitter stock went public yesterday at $26, and immediately went up to $45.  The retail investor had little shot at the $26 shares, so the investment decision really needs to be based on the $45 price.  The profit model is still a work-in-progress for Twitter, but it will certainly be ad-based.  Investors are a bit gun-shy on these things given the mixed initial results of Facebook last year, but sentiment seems to appreciate the fact that the future is in social media technology...and Twitter is a huge player.  Stay tuned.

I actually made a small Internet search this morning to see if there were an "sour grapes" stories out there that criticized the CMA's for recognizing George Strait as the Entertainer of the Year.  I figured that some people would give the old, "Yeah, but..." caveat that it was a lifetime achievement award and not really deserved for his current work.  Didn't see anything.  The only carping that I saw was of liberal voices calling out Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood for their mocking of Obamacare and Miley Cyrus.  And the standard snarks of "hicks", "racists" and "boring" which were likely pre-written anyway.  Whatever.

All for this AM.  Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Thursday

How cool!!

Wednesday

Going retro with the Home Page pic.  Always a good shot.

Hard to believe that today is the one-year anniversary of the last Presidential election.  What happened to that vapor-year?

The local radio station using a country music format was voted the nation's Small Market Station of the Year in conjunction with the CMA recognitions that will be handed out tonight on the televised awards show.  I'm not sure how that voting is conducted, or the qualifying standards, but good for them.  I usually listen to that station while in the car here in town.  Like all contemporary country stations, it can get too pop-ish after awhile.  These young artists can lose us old guys with the new blend of almost hard-rock-abilly.  Whatever.

My fav George Strait is getting a special lifetime achievement award on the show tonight as well.  Why wouldn't he?

The price of gas is on a downward trend.  I really haven't looked at the numbers, but a reduction at the pump creates liquidity for everyone, right.?  I mean, a gallon was over $4 earlier this year, right?  So getting it under $3 is a significant savings, right?  (Maybe not so much for those without cars...hey to the NYC fam...but for the rest of us who have to have a car to get to work, less spent at the pump translates to more spent elsewhere, right?)  I know fossil fuel usage offends the Save-the-Planet crowd, but there is an economic impact given our current reality.

One of the sidebars in yesterday's elections was the failure in Houston to approve a bond measure that would have funded the re-development of the Astro Dome.  I hadn't realized that the one-time Eighth Wonder of the World had been entirely closed for several years.  Or that Reliant Stadium (that much bigger?)  had been built immediately next door to the old facility.  I was never in the Astro Dome.  Now it looks like it will fall victim to the wrecking ball.  Not quite 50 years after opening.  Progress, eh?

Another of the realities of life kicked in for me yesterday when one of my former vendors kicked me off their data processing system.  I had made the formal change in vendors in September, but I had managed to procrastinate actual conversion of client accounts all of the way into November.  With access to the old system now blocked, I have to get off by backside and get the paperwork done to move to the new platform...like yesterday!...and like I should have had done maybe three weeks ago.  I took things to the end of the string and it got yanked.  If you think the world operates on your schedule, wake up people!

In connection with this vendor change, I need to also change several programs on my desktop.  I'm wondering if swapping-out viper-ware systems, upgrading to the new client-account system, and re-routing of email storage will help with things like malfunctions on the tax program (remember the Catastrophic Failure problem?) and Blogger functionality.  For sure, if Blogger processing doesn't change for the better, I will definitely be moving to a new platform for that service.

All for today.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

Sunday

I'm giving ND the air-time today since they we the only one of our teams that came out on top yesterday.  And they were kinda lucky to do so.  Playing a team like Navy that runs that option-running offense is almost a mind-over-matter thing.  You know that you have better athletes and should win.  But the Midshipmen always maximize their skills and force you to play their game.  Another example of the adage: a win is a win is a win.

Its always great to have a visit from the NYC branch of the fam.  4 got in late Friday evening, sans baggage.  We had a low-key Saturday that included watching the first half of the Iowa game over lunch at Sports Fans Pizza in Bettendorf, and domestic work at 2's later in the day to get her moved back into her house.  Take-out Grinders for dinner.  Here's a shot of the girl's at the theater this AM  (No, LtPC was not part of that adventure.)

We're taking to the road this afternoon to see the Augie-Iowa basketball game.  To be followed by Airliner pizza.  Why wouldn't we?

Its becoming pretty evident that the White House was fully aware from the outset that the, "You can keep your insurance" line was not accurate.  It is interesting the watch the spinmeisters shuck 'n jive the spin to discount the statement as being a lie.  The all-knowing NYT op-ed page today offered that The President "mis-spoke".  Others have said that it was just a "political mess".  And the WH press secretary has gone the parsing-of-the-quote route and deflected blame to the insurance companies.  Or to the fact that the policies being canceled were "substandard" contracts.

Actually, if the launch of the program on the website had been successful, this part of the story might not have seen the light of day.  If there is anything that provides evidence of the liberal bias in the mainstream press, its their reluctance to challenge anything (costs, waste, corruption, deceit) that might reflect poorly on social programs favored by progressive thinkers.  So bad news on any of this stuff remains on the back pages and off the newscasts until the cloud has directly reached too many readers/viewers to be ignored.

But I'm just making these observations because I'm a racist.  And really, it's Bush's fault anyway.  (Oops!  Sorry.  I didn't realize that the needle was stuck on that record!)

Speaking of the PC police, I see where someone wanted "Chinese Fire Drill" stricken from the list of acceptable phrases to describe mayhem/congestion in the streets or hallways.  (Which reminds me of this recent story from the NYC mayoral race that wedded politics and political correctness.)  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/religious-groups-school-days-mayor-article-1.1490201

And a final observation on this theme.  Nebraska wins on the final play of the game yesterday at home against hapless Northwestern on what virtually all news outlets called a "Hail Mary" pass.  (Could the HuffPo be this insensitive? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/02/nebraska-hail-mary-jordan-westerkamp-touchdown_n_4206072.html)   It goes without saying (but I of course will say it) that its OK to colloquialize anthing Christian.  But woe be the pundit who treads that ground beyond the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (or Catholic) safe-zone.  Is there any chance that there will eventually be a grand conversion to a "Muhammad" pass? 

The time change caught me this AM, but not in a bad way.  I had gone to bed without remembering to reset the clocks, and when I woke up at 0630 (according to my bedside radio) I thought that I was going to be late for coffee.  When I checked my phone for Titter updates, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was actually going to be early!  Small Glad Game moments.

Enough for this morning.  I'll try to get some pics today from the IC trip and the Airliner.

Have a great day in your neighborhood.

BCOT