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