Tuesday

Another short blast of Winter in the QCA.  Something less than an inch of new snow on the ground.  Temps in the 20's.  But this shouldn't last long. 

For the record, the condos have been reserved for Tahoe 2014.  By my count, we're looking at about 125 days now before check-in.

The closest that I came to my annual March Madness visit to Hooters was lunch in a Rock Island dive bar on Thursday.  The waitresses were not candidates for Hooters employment (although, if you were

to research here, the Davenport Hooters location has no claim to a stable of calendar girls).  Years ago, I would spend that first Thursday and Friday with some serious interest in each of the games.  Now?  Meh.  Its such a crap-shoot.  The Top Twenty teams just aren't that much better than the next 40.  Plus, since I've already won the Clan Contest once, what more is there?

Yeah. like Buffet had some exposure that someone would run the table from Game 1.

Here's a reason to select a cell phone case that is distinctive.  At the dive bar lunch last week, my lawyer friend John and I sat at a small high-top table away from the bar.  We ate lunch, watched the games, and talked a little business.  We each checked messages a couple of times on our phones.  Once we were done, we walked back to John's office where I had parked my car.  He had to get to the courthouse and I had to head back to my own office.  We shook hands, and I did my normal self-check to confirm I had my phone as I slid into the Buick.

Uh-oh.  No phone.

We conclude that it obviously must be back at the bar.  So I actually drive the two blocks back to the bar and he heads to court.  At the bar I find nuttin'.  I scour the floor around our table.  I talk to the guys who were still at the adjacent table, and to the waitress.  Still nuttin'.  I go back to my car and check there.  Nuttin'.  I go back inside to the bar and check again.  One of the guys calls my phone.  No sounds.  He walks out and dials while I listen in my car.  Silence.  I go back inside and get on my knees to look on the floor.  Again.  Still nuttin'.  I'm getting a little irked and really just perplexed.

Finally, I've basically given up, and turn to leave the bar...and run directly into my pal John...who has my phone held up in his right hand!

John had unconsciously picked up my phone from the table when we left from lunch.  It was an exact match for his own phone.  When the guy tried to help me by calling my phone, it had rung in John's pocket over at the courthouse.

This is just a variation of the old Sometimer's story, but with a slight twist of another player in the game.  I mean, I have enough issues on my own.  When there's "help" from a friend, I have little hope.

This probably qualifies for the Who Cares? files, but MLB's Opening Day this year is this Saturday (our time) from Australia.  The LA Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Sydney.  The first game is at Oh Dark Hundred our time on Saturday morning...Saturday night in Sydney...and a second game is late Saturday night...a Sunday day game in Sydney.  I might miss both.

All for today.  Hope its a Good Tuesday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Sunday...Small UPDATE

I thought that I might get some posting done from the road this weekend, but obviously I was mistaken. Not that life on the road has been all that exciting, but there has just not been a lot of original thought breaking the surface as the miles drone along.

Yeah, my picks suck too.

One of my professional designations has required some catch-up CPE as a result of a missed seminar a year ago. That was the time in April a year ago when weather forced a bunch of cancellations at MLI on the day I was departing and they weren't going to to get me to PHX until two days later. So I just didn't make the trip. And as a result, the CPE for the year didn't get done. 10 hours required. The organization has been politely saying to get'r done before 3/31 or the designation becomes invalid.

The mobile technology allows me to dial up sessions posted to their website, listen to the program, then attest that I've done so. No testing, but I've toed the line and actually listened to the taped presentations. 7 hours worth on this trip. Which makes the road time somewhat productive, I guess. I've been listening to the sessions that I missed in PHX last year. Probably paying more attention than I would have had I been at the conference, crossword and all.

The featured presenter at the conference, and one of the hours that I listened to this AM, was Nate Silver. His claim to fame was initially statistical analysis in Major League Baseball, which he somehow parlayed into political prognostication. He had the Big O's election win in 2012 nailed the week before the vote. Anyway, his presentation was basically a discussion of sorting through the "noise" to get to relevant data for decision-making. In an age where we have all this computing power, an advisor needs to understand what data actually matters in making good choices and advising clients. Kind of common sense stuff, but we do get carried away at times using false or irrelevant indicators.

Country Club Plaza in KC remains one of my favorite places to visit, but the weather was a little less than ideal this time. Cool yesterday and none of the bars had their outdoor areas open. It would be worth the trip for another visit this year. Maybe I'll do a Royals game.

I guess I didn't mention here that I had my annual health physical last week. Most of the report was ok, but I do have a couple of points to work on, chloresterol being one of them. I find that odd. No family history. Not the worst eating habits. But I haven't had the best Winter from a fitness standpoint. So I've kind of decided to start Lent a little later than the calendar directs and get to a better number by Tahoe. It will be a good challenge.

I had to process the health insurance claim for this doctor's visit through Medicare. I am humbled to have to admit that fact. It was one thing to accept an AARP card that came unsolicitedly 10 years ago (which I accepted to get that 10% discount at hotels). But to enroll in Medicare is almost the ultimate admission of the reality that you are OLD!!!

(For the uninformed, the system pretty much forces you into Medicare. Once I hit 65, the monthly premium on the office health plan for a single person rose to over $1100 a month. The system is broken. If our doc's and hospitals elected to not accept Medicare, then what? And the doc's just get killed on their Medicare reimbursement rates. I know. Here's a great idea. Let's bring the government in to solve the problem!!!)

May get back here later this evening. My RCL will be AWOL this week...as will her fill-in. So I have to take care of a few domestic chores myself. Yuck.

UPDATE:   Giving my sister Rosemary Sister of the Day status.  Fun visit with her and Tom on Friday night. 

And a hearty congrats to the ISU fans in the Peanut Gallery for the 'Clones big win late this afternoon against Carolina.  Even without their inside guy who broke his foot Thursday, ISU was able to take advantage of their strengths and get a huge victory.  They could win another game.

No issues upon my return to Maplecrest.  Busy week in my future. Lots needs to get out the door before heading to Minny for March Madness on Friday.  But I'll still try to add some information to the Body of Knowledge here in the next few days.  The forecast is for snow here tomorrow.  Suite.

BCOT


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Thursday

First day of Spring.  March Madness officially begins.  Good day already.

Yeah, I blew it on Mother's birthday.  We celebrated on her Tax Birthday.  Meh.  Not the worst oversight on my part.

More later.

BCOT

Wednesday

Happy Birthday, Margaret!!! 106 years. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mother.  It would have been snapped by a photographer from The Ottumwa Courier on a Sunday afternoon in late February or early March of 1967.  Our basketball team had just finished 4th in the small school state tournament (out of 400+ teams).  Pretty nice smiles after having lost two straight, eh?  We were over-matched in the semi's, and just ran outta gas in the consolation game that third day.  In this pic, we were walking into the gym at Ottumwa Walsh High School for a greeting with our fans and classmates to celebrate the trophy. 

 

I would have been 18 years old at that time.  Mother was almost exactly 59...making her six years younger then than I am today.  She was pretty old to me at the time.  Hmmm.

 

Just like everything from that long ago, many of the specifics have faded.  But I do have clear memories of a few plays in those games, the excitement that we felt getting to play in Vet's Auditorium in Des Moines, and then the sheer joy of winning our first game against a previously undefeated team.  You can see in Mother's expression the joy that she felt for our success.

 

Mother lived almost another 34 years from that day.  She lived to see all of her kids graduate from college, marry and have 19 kids of their own.  She and Daddy eventually built that house that he always said he would put in that field across the county road.  They travelled the world, sold the milking cows, kept praying for us all, and saw our families achieve wonderful things. 

 

I truly believe that so much of what we have is the result of Mother and Daddy teaching us the meaning of family, sacrifice and love.  Which is interesting as Mother was certainly not a touchy-feely person.  But the fruit of her actions on teaching us how to live and treat people has now spanned to another generation (or two?).

 

Obviously, Margaret and I spent a lot of time together as her days dwindled.  It was a challenging time, but I have since considered those months to be her last gift to me.  I am so grateful that I had the privilege to be with her at that time.  I've never figured out why, but that experience enabled me to subsequently participate in The Game of Life with a much more honest approach, and with a lot less worry about the noise that might come from the Chorus.  A day doesn't go by that I don't have something come up that brings her into my thoughts.

 

Well.  I really hadn't meant to get sappy.  But she was a great lady.  We are all fortunate that we hit the Margaret Lottery.

 

Celebrate her today!

 

BCOT

 

Location:

Tuesday II

Yeah, so I couldn't figure out how to put my commentary with the pics on the first post today.  Blogger really is a pain...or my desktop is so screwed up that it screws up Blogger.  Maybe its a combination, but it is really inconvenient.

This was meant to simply be a Top Ten list of favorite songs.  I had heard Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying on the way to the office and came up with the idea of a song list as a blog entry.  So as with most of my Top Ten lists, there's not necessarily an order involved.  And with a couple of the artists, George, Shania and Elvis, there wasn't a single song that came to mind, but they needed to be on the list.

I'll add some other thoughts later.

BCOT

Tuesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday

This didn't get done as early as scheduled.  Really a non-event day here, the furniture delivery to Highland Avenue not withstanding.

This was the scene leaving my neighborhood for coffee this AM.  We had only an inch or so, but it was an unwelcome dusting.  Mostly gone now, but we are in for another day or two of moderately low temperatures.  Winter is unwilling to go quietly.

Selection Sunday brought few surprises.  I actually thought that the Hawks were lucky to even get a bid to the play-in game.  As a 3-seed, the 'Clones have no walk in the park in San Antonio.  They're looking at Carolina Blue in their second game.  Kentucky as an 8 and Okie State as a 9 could both get to the second weekend.

I didn't watch much of the conference tournaments.  I saw one article this morning suggesting that these season-ending conference tournaments had out-lived their usefulness, citing primarily the empty seats at the host sites (particularly at the Georgia Dome for the SEC games).  Hmmm.  I agree that they aren't that important for the "power"conferences, but the games create content for the sports programming networks, and I'm betting that they are commercially successful for the conferences.

I do think that anything before those regional games that second weekend should not be in domes.

Monday is St. Patty's Day.  There was a lot of the celebratory side of the day over the weekend.  The local parade was Saturday, as was the 5K run and I think the bars did their big parties Saturday.  The staff at Sports Fans was all decked-out when I was there for lunch on Saturday.  The Lt. has passed that baton on to others.

One item that goes back to those serious St. Patty's days in C-town in the mid-70's flashed to the surface when I picked up a provisional case of vino Saturday afternoon.  Here's a pic of the box that I randomly grabbed from behind a counter at the Hy Vee wine shop to use for my 12 bottles.  Major Peters is the brand of Bloody Mary mix that I first came across at the Playboy Club on Michigan Avenue in C-town circa 1977.  It was a thick, spicy mix that I really liked.  For many years, I made an effort to track down Major Peter's whenever we hosted friends and Bloody's were on the menu.  I still like Bloody Mary's.

For the record, a few of us on the staff at AA&Co would go to the Playboy Club in the Drake Hotel for lunch, walking The Magnificient Mile from the Loop.  It wasn't that expensive, the food and drinks were good, and the service was...well, I can't remember.  I'm guessing that it looked pretty good.  Additional factoid: there was a time that I actually belonged to the Chicago Playboy Club.  There were discounts involved, of course.

All for today.  Hope everyone has a good week.  Be Irish tomorrow.  Drink a green beer!

BCOT

Friday

Welcome back to the US of A, Kiddo!  Another Daughter of the Day for you!

So this is the Tax Ides of March, eh?  Seems like the Ides has taken its time to get here this year.  But actually, with the girls state tournament now behind us, warmer weather is supposed to be the program.  Regardless of the historical reliability of The Farmer's Almanac or other prognosticator resources, the girls tournament is as good of a barometer of the advent of Spring as any.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek ran a cover story a week ago about the ruckus at the University of North Carolina concerning academic fraud to cover the deficiencies of some of their football and basketball players.  Shocking.  It is a little surprising to me that a school of that stature would either, 1) allow it to actually happen as described, or 2) not be able to squelch the whistle-blowing actions of the few.  If true, I'm surprised at the basketball coach (Roy Williams), not so much so at the football coach (Butch Davis) who was fired.

I think that we can all agree that the concept of "student-athlete" for maybe the top 5% of D-1 football and basketball schools is a misnomer.  And the ratio probably goes higher as you go further down the list of schools who play D-1 sports.  Those second and third tier schools have less luxury to find the kid who can make it on both the field/court and in the classroom.   Winning is a big deal.  Not winning gets the coach fired.

"Jock classes" have always existed.  Back in the 60's at ND, we had "99 Kline" and "A-B Brennan".  I took Father Brennan's philosophy class freshman year.  It was an A if you showed up at class, a B if you didn't.  I aced it, of course. 

I do think that the "1 and done" rule for elite basketball players is stupid.  In the main, its an opportunity for the school to get the services of an elite player (or in the case of Kentucky/Calipari, players) for a season with the kid only pretending to go to classes for one semester.  The Spring term is a meaningless semester because if they fail their classes, it doesn't matter...their one season is over.  Calipari won a championship with this rule a couple of years back.

I find it curious that Derek Rose of the Bulls has been Mr. Teflon with his fraudulent SAT score.  He's made millions, is a paid product-spokesman and seems to be oblivious to the dirt left in his wake.

Mark Cuban suggested a couple weeks ago that the NBA's Developmental League was a better option for these top players from a pure basketball skills progression perspective, but I didn't pick up on any tidal wave of support for his position.  The balance between the NBA and the colleges on this matter is pretty delicate.  Follow the money.

ND has had its share of academic problems with players.  Quarterback Golson got caught cheating in a class and was dismissed from school for a year.  And their leading scorer on their current basketball team was kicked out of school in December for an "academic issue".  It used to be Cliffs Notes.  Now you have the Internet.  Do kids actually think that instructors are that dumb?

Not much else to report from here.  Working the weekend.  Lots of basketball (not the Hawks, of course!)...and Selection Sunday.

Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT 

Wednesday

I had great expectations of getting an entry done last night (Tuesday), or at the latest, early this AM.  The best laid plans, yada, yada, yada.

I'm making 3 Daughter of the Day.  She's in the middle of a business trip in Hong Kong.  Trying to figure out sleep on a trip like that has to be awful.  I'm very proud of her.  She's out in the deep water with the big fish.  You're a star, Kiddo!

That time change the DST coulda waited a week or two.  I like the reality of early morning light, so sun-up before 0600 fit my profile.  This extra hour of sun in the evening really isn't doing much for me since I usually don't leave the office until 1845 or so.  I slept so poorly at the hotel in Woodbury last weekend that the loss of an hour on Saturday night didn't register on my circadian rhythms scale.  (I have noticed though that I've been a little late to the shower the last couple of mornings, so I must not yet be adjusted.)

The conference tournaments get into gear tonight with the bigger conferences having their versions of the play-in games.  In days of old, when conferences either had only 8 members or only had their top 8 teams play in the season-ending tournament, games would normally start either Thursday or Friday.  Now, most conferences allow all teams in their tournament, but the top four teams will get a bye and the lower-placing teams will have to play an extra game.  Its a fun week for b-ball junkies.

My furnace was shut down when I made it back to Maplecrest on Monday night.  Very odd.  Everything else in the house was working fine (other than that the clocks were off an hour, of course.)  This was a new unit three years ago, but I hadn't had the HVAC guys back for a routine maintenance check since installation.  I deduced that it may have been the fuse mounted on the furnace since all other house electric items were working.  A quick trip to Home Depot and replacement of the fuse confirmed that it was not the fuse.

The service panel didn't have a quick-release feature, so although doubtful of my skills to do anything, I unscrewed the panel to take a look at the inside mechanisms.  One glance at the all-electronic controls confirmed that the appropriate step was to dial up the HVAC folks.  I did that on Tuesday morning, the guy came out at the agreed time, and he had it re-fired with little fanfare.  He did some diagnostic work on the systems, found nothing, and gave me a bill for $79.  I considered it a cheap date, and a win-win result.  Think of all the bad options that could of been the alternative outcomes.  All problems should be resolved as such.

Speaking of problems, I had to replace my top-of-the-line Thermos coffee cup.  After the cleaning folks at the office put it through the dish washer that last time, the seal-tight mechanism in the lid was rendered something less than perfect when we dismantled the lid to get the dish soap out of it.  Then I dropped the cup a week or two ago, and the seal ring broke and the sealing mechanism just wouldn't work. Working the Glad Game here, the new cup came in yesterday, so I'm back in business.  Love that HOT coffee!  (The coffee shop oughtta make money when they sell theses things for $35.99, right?)

Finally, I'm giving 4 the last brownie for today.  I think she's still sitting in the terminal at ORD waiting for a flight to LGA.  Late night for that girl!  This pic came from snowman-making on Harvest Path.  Hope you make it home tonight, Kiddo.

All for tonight.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

The first two pics were taken with the mini-digi, while the others were all from the iPhone.  And I enlarged the iPhone pics...which makes them lose some definition when they get posted from the Blogpost app on my phone.

More from Maplecrest later.

BCOT

Friday

Just a few lines this afternoon before shutting down.  We actually have a decent day here on the weather front.  Mid 40's and the snow is melting.

I've been watching the PGA tournament this afternoon and the Doral Blue Monster course is just tearing the pros apart.  I think Tiger has put four balls in the water.  Its a tough course and the wind is blowing about 30 MPH.  I know firsthand from when we were in Florida last week that the wind there can play havoc with the amateurs.  Same-same with the big boys!

The Donald bought this place a year or two ago out of bankruptcy proceedings and spent a bunch of money to upgrade the resort.  The on-property Blue Monster course was completely revamped.  As of right now, there are only two players under par for two days.  Its a survival contest.

Lots of moving parts in the fam these days.  A modest fff this weekend in Minnesota as 4 jets out to see her niece and nephew...and the Iowa contingent is all venturing up to join the party.  3 got back from London last night...and departs for Hong Kong Sunday night.  She be a travelin' girl, fo' sure!  Get some sleep, Kiddo!

I finally paged through my Winter edition of the ND alumni magazine last night.  This was the cover shot.  I'm not sure whether the ND or the Iowa alumni magazine is the worst for a right-of-center reader.  Its a tight race.  The combination of 1) a preponderance of do-gooder articles and 2) the standard progressive viewpoints of academia limits my reading to a scan-and-pass protocol. 

In another effort to "improve" the human condition, a couple of progressive groups have made recent headlines with their cry for the Girl Scouts to end a partnership with Mattel because of the unhealthy effects of the Barbie doll (made by Mattel).  OK.  Barbie is a little out of proportion.  But really, it isn't always somebody else's fault when things don't work out great for a girl.  Or a boy.

For you baseball fans (and maybe trivia fans as well) Dr. Frank Jobe passed away yesterday at the age of 88.  Dr. Jobe was an orthopaedic surgeon and is credited with the first reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow.  His first patient for this revolutionary surgery was LA Dodger pitcher Tommy John.  The procedure is now known colloquially as Tommy John surgery.  And it has rescued the careers of numerous pitchers in professional baseball.  Arguably, Dr. Jobe is worthy of Cooperstown.

Finally, a couple of tidbits on my fav sideline reporter, Erin Andrews.  Have you made it somewhere when you have made it to the NYT crossword?  Clue: ESPN reporter Erin.  Kind of a Monday puzzle clue if you follow sports.  And secondly, I had not followed the entertainment news to know that she has become the co-host on DWTS.  When did that happen?  I kinda liked the other girl.  Not that I ever watched the show.

All for now.  More from the road this weekend.

BCOT

Tuesday

I initially thought that today was Maundy Tuesday, but I had my parts of Lent mixed up.  My Internet search confirmed that today is "Shrove" Tuesday.  At the end of Lent, in Holy Week, we have Maundy Thursday.  Just thought that you should know.

(Mardi Gras is also known as Fat Tuesday.)

I've been doing my own version of a "cleanse" this week.  After last week's excesses in wine and fine dining, its a Spartan menu on Maplecrest this week.  I should be ready for a glass of vino this weekend up on Harvest Path when 4 hits town.

I missed this at the start of the Daytona 500.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhk91bcadg4 . Very cool.

This is girls state basketball tournament week in Iowa.  For the record, Winter is never over until after this tournament.

The Augustana men got word yesterday that they had received an at-large bid to the D-III tournament.  With seven losses, including one in the semi-finals of their conference tournament last weekend, I was doubtful that they would get the call.  Its really a sign of respect that the committee has for the conference...which is the D-III equivalent to the Big Ten or Big-12.  The bad news is that they face St. Thomas in their opener.  If they were to by chance win that game, they have Wisconsin-Whitewater (ranked 3rd in the country), at Whitewater, in the pod final to move on to the Sweet 16.

For all the political hand-wringing going on about the geo-political event in Russia/Ukraine, the realities might be that the internal economic pressures may have the most influence to diffuse the crisis.  The monied-class in Russia, which isn't that big, has little appetite for politics that negatively impact their wealth.  Vladimir's chain is more likely to be pulled at home rather than from Washington.

In a shocking turn of events, my pal Pete has pulled the trigger and purchased a new bike.  A really, really nice new bike.  I haven't seen it yet, but its a Trek Madonne 7.7 (I think), that lists for like six grand.  He paid under four, but still, that's a leap for a guy who has ridden a basic aluminum-frame, low-end Paramount made by Schwinn 25 years ago.  Good for him.

(He mentioned this AM that one of the factors that attracted him to Trek was his experience on the rental bike from Incline's Village Ski Loft that he used to climb Mt. Rose in 2012.  His Paramount was also a piece of crap.  Just sayin'.)

I am remiss in failing to recognize the February 21 anniversary of Mother's passing...13 years ago.  Hard to believe that it has been that long ago.  So much water under the bridge since then.  Her last gift to me was an abstract, ethereal peace of sorts that has allowed me to enjoy the many good things in my life.  Margaret was a great lady.  Here's her smile in a pic with Philip.

All for today.  Get ready for Lent!

BCOT

Sunday

From "sunny and 75", its back into the deep freeze.  4-5 inches of new snow last night.  Zero degrees this AM.  At least its not -17 like up on Harvest Path.  I did have to break out my heavy parka again when I did the snow blowing after First Coffee.  I had optimistically hung it in the back closet before the trip.

I noted on my 2008 calendar on the Memory Wall downstairs that I was outside on my bike on both March 1st and 2nd.  Global warming fo' sure, Al.  I mean, climate change.  Gotta get my PC terminology correct.

Also on the calendar is a note that I started the EJ McKay story this weekend last year.  Glad I finally got a wrap on that before the one-year anniversary!.

(And finally from the calendar, for you trivia buffs, 2014 is an exact replica of 2008 except for January and February where the days in those two months were one weekday off..  2008 was a leap year, and that 29th day in February kicked March 1st to a Saturday, just like this year.)

Not a lot of post-scripts to report on the boys' golf trip to Vero.  The golf courses were good, not great.  The food was excellent.  The wine was all top-shelf and above.  Accommodations in my pal Roy's seaside condo were luxurious.  The travel was OK with just about an hour delay on the final leg back to MLI.  Eight compatible guys.  No hassles.

All of that said, a repeat next year will have to adjust to using the two weekend days rather than the five regular work days.  Only two of the guys don't work full time, so the majority of us see that kind of a tweaking of the schedule as a positive move.  (Since I was a Replacement Player, I may not even be on the squad next year.)

(I had to prematurely publish those first paragraphs.  Blogger was acting up again.  I didn't want to lose what I had written, and the program was refusing to "save" after a spellcheck.)

The one aspect of the trip on the business side of things was that my mobile devices allowed me to stay on top of email and phone calls.  There were no surprises on those items when I got to my desk on Saturday.  Another example of how you can stay in the game from the road.


Another thing that occurred to me on the trip was the relative order that exists in the routine processing of the thousands of travelers that come through the congestion of an airport the size of Atlanta on any given, normal day.  (Weather that shuts runways down not being a "normal" day.)   Much of it relies on the intense interest of passengers to get to where they are supposed to be.  I mean, we all want to catch our flights and get to our destinations.  We follow the screens posting departure times and gates.  We get to the right concourses.

I suppose that experience counts in this equation.  When you've been through enough airports, you have a better sense of what is important in getting from here to there.  And you need even less guidance.  Like most successful business models, if you have a product that people want, or need, make it available at the right price and the right accessibility, then you should be able to make a buck.


There has to be a similar logic that could be leveraged for successful government programs, but you would need to factor in waste, graft, politics and incompetence in that algorithm.

1 and 4 get the honors of domestic Daughters of the Day.  1 for hanging in there for another below zero weekend up North.  4 for dealing with a disabled L train and the resulting lousy commute while excelling in the production of her weekend shows.

And 3 catches the International Daughter of the Day.  She's across the pond in London on bid'ness.  3.1 tagged along for the weekend.

All for now.  I may add an update this evening.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT