Wednesday

The trip to NYC was a home run.  Another example of where the best plan is no plan. 3, 3.1 and 4 were great hosts.  We saw a lot of the town, ate well, and, of course, sampled a few bottles of vino.

I put the pics up last night in two segments as I had thought that I would be doing an entry and would use the pics as reference points.  Then I had trouble posting from the iPad/iPhone cloud and there is no way to easily merge entries from the desk-top Blogger and mobile Blog Press.  I punted when I ended up mowing the yard.

My Top Ten take-away's from the weekend:

1.  I got lucky again with air-travel.  It wasn't stress-free, but the end-results were very good.
2.  There are tourists everywhere. And we didn't really hit many of the big tourists' spots.
3.  MoMA is always worth a visit.
4.  NYC is absolutely the ultimate melting-pot of peoples and cultures.  That is evident just walking down the street.
5.  Pretty sure I wouldn't want to own a car in NYC.  While there are many urban similarities with C-town, I would never want to be fighting traffic in/around/to/from Manhattan.
6.  Street-side vending is a big industry.  Including fresh grilling of kabobs!  Not very appealing to the germaphobe in me.
7.  Lobby-bar pricing for wine by-the-glass is a high profit-margin business.  (Not news, of course, but its always an eye-opener.)
8.  Not a big fan of the nearly all-organic selections at Whole Foods.  I'll give the nod to Hy Vee.
9.  If you can't find a topic of interest from a visit to Grand Central station, you have no imagination.
10.  See 9 above re: a visit to Washington Square Park.

I was disappointed (and a little surprised actually) to get home and find that the PN had not mowed my yard.  It must have been the rainy weather as his was a little shaggy as well.  So with no enthusiasm, I fired-up my mower when I got home from work last night and figured I'd at least get the front yard done.  I had to catch the clippings as it would have otherwise left a hayfield, so it was slow-going.  But I pressed on, thinking that I would run out of gas...but no such luck...and I was able to get the back yard done as well.

That pass-through my property opened my eyes to several items that need attention around my place.  The Winter was not kind to several of my landscape bushes, the place needs a full treatment of mulch, and its time to paint the front shutters and the doors to the garage and front of the house.  The question is, how much of this work do I have hired done?  Taking the Over on what ever the bet is set at.

We're now at the end of April.  Given my schedule for the next four weekend, May will be a flash.  Tahoe will be here in a heartbeat.  Live like you were dyin'.

Maybe more later.  Hey 3!  What day is it?

BCOT

Tuesday

Tuesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday

This will be another mobile effort from the Friendly Skies. Still interesting to me that the Blue Tooth feature doesn't work from the air.

My check-in process with the electronic boarding pass went fine. I used my iPad rather than my iPhone because Yahoo queries me for identification data on the iPhone after I have been checking mail from another device. And I wasn't able to "save" the boarding passes and had to go to the UAL site each time to pull up my itinerary. The keyboard with the iPad is a lot easier to use. (I'm confident that the need for that last little roundabout exercise is all operator ignorance.)

I'm continuing to give a favorable review for the new bike. (It's a Trek Domane 5.2. Shimano Ultegra components, Bontrager tires and wheels, a double front chain-ring with eleven gears in the rear cassette.) My riding will be confined to the bike path for another couple of weeks until I can get strong enough to hit the roads with @bcbison. It would be nice if it was warm enough to make the morning ride a little more comfortable. I was glad I went with the full-fingered gloves this AM...and the digits still got cold. (The limited traffic on the bike path at 0630 is a real pleasure though. Just a few dog walkers and even fewer bikers.)

The MCSC was open (albeit inside) for business the last couple of nights with a number of takers. 2 may be providing membership cards. My pal Pete may be doing the legal paperwork and other positions may be formalized. There's probably a job opening for all takers. (The process kind of reminds me of TEGWAR from The Boys of Summer....The Exciting Game Without Any Rules.)

Illinois and Chicago just can't help themselves. The state is broke. The city is dying a slow death a la Detroit. The governor and the mayor of Chicago, both legendary fiscal conservatives, have recently proposed higher state income taxes (the governor), and higher real estate taxes (the mayor), to plug disastrous short-falls in their respective budgets. And in the midst of this, the politicians vote to provide $100 million(!) as seed money to attract the Barack Obama Presidential Library, and $60 million(!) to fund the Barach Obama College Preparatory High School. You can't make this stuff up.

In the For What It's Worth department, I hope that the Republicans stay away from a Jeb Bush candidacy for 2016. He may actually be the most qualified man in their field, but I don't think that the the electorate can be persuaded to put another Bush in the White House. The progressives desperately want to add a female President to their list of barrier-breaking achievements, and they really wouldn't even have to make new anti-Bush placards to take to the streets. The old ones would work just fine. And the minions wouldn't even need to learn new slogans or rehearse new chants. Just like the second Obama election recycled a "Blame Bush" meme four years after Dubya left office, the progressive operatives would salivate at the thought of running Hillary or Liz on a "Not Another Bush" campaign.

In other headline news, the Buffalo Jill cheerleaders have been put on the shelf as a result of a suit brought by a couple of former cheerleaders who claim they were harassed/mistreated/underpaid. This is the third or fourth such disruption on the NFL sidelines in the last couple of years. Personally, I've never thought much of the plight of NFL cheerleaders. Most seem to work pretty hard to get the jobs in hopes of leveraging themselves into other acting/modeling/publicity careers. Interns in every industry work for fairly low pay. If the cheerleaders get themselves unionized, we may have an NFL without cheerleaders.

Moving on...

I'll do my best to add some pics and observations from The Big Apple over the weekend. I'm looking forward to sampling some fine wine and interesting cuisine, and checking out Spring with the NYC contingent of the fam.

Make it a good weekend in your neighborhood.

BCOT
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday

I'm making this effort in between meetings in Dubuque. It may not be the most efficient use of my time. You do what you do.

My idea for acknowledging the recurring gatherings expected on my driveway this year is to give the place a name...The MapleCrest Social Club...MCSC for short. In addition to the patio heaters for members' comfort, I'm thinking that a small wine refrigerator in the garage may be in my future as well. Qualifications for membership will be at a low bar. Wanting to be there may be the most relevant item.




Today is the 100th anniversary of the opening of Wrigley Field. That's a lot of games with no WS flag to show for it. My pal Pete and I will be going into C-town for a Cubs' game in June. We may even go into the ballpark.

Moving on...

Individual data security in the investment business has arched into the borderline-absurd. I now have a couple of bank trust departments and at least one broker-dealer who will only email through an enrollment-protected secure portal...even for routine messages. Most recently, I received an email from a vendor where I had placed some client money several years ago. After my broker-dealer switch late last year, my recurring emails from the vendor decreased, but never fully ceased. An email from them last week instructed me to log in the check monthly performance.

When I did try to log in, the system rejected my previous user name/password. I sent an email to the sender stating this fact. The response was, "We have no record of your email address on file". After several back-and-forths trying to get the sender to realize that they had, in fact, sent me the email, they requested that I call in to resolve the issue. It then took a number of calls for them to sort out the disconnect. Long story short, they had essentially purged my information when the broker-dealer change was processed. Except for one email address that had escaped their updating effort. Whatever.

My reading on the traditional investment securities business is that the Compliance function is driving the focus of every element within an office. Nobody wants to be in the line of fire from an investor lawsuit, or from a government inquiry/audit. And with the high profile hacking episodes that make it on to the evening news shows, who can blame them? Investor fraud is still out there. It's amazing what promoters will do and say to induce people to invest in various projects/opportunities. Money makes people do stupid things.

The new bike is a keeper. It actually fits my body better than the now-trashed Lemond titanium. I'm guessing that the Trek geometry is slightly more favorable to me, as my original road bike, also a Trek, was a good fit too. It's nice having a working computer on the bike as well. I hadn't had a functional computer on my prior bike for at least a couple of years. This one is not GPS or that sort of hi-tech gizmo, but it has speed, mileage, time and all of the basic stuff that I might need. It's wireless with the computer getting a signal from the spoke-reader on the front wheel.

Speaking of gizmo's, I learned just last week of the "fit bit" device. Not sure I'd want to know that much data about myself. I'm betting there are hackers out there mining fit bit signals for retail trade purposes. A less-specific version of the Hy Vee gas card? Below radar not an option.

All for now. What day is it?

BCOT


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday

I am absolutely guilty of blog-neglect.  Talk about how to lose an audience!

I had great intentions to have a weekend summary entry on Sunday night, but I had trouble uploading pics from my laptop.  Then when I did get the pics posted from my desktop yesterday, Blogger did its thing of limiting my text options once the photos were in place.  I got frustrated, thought I would make a follow-up entry from the couch and just published the visuals.  Obviously, the evening was not that productive.

So many thanks to 2 for falling on her sword and accompanying me to George Strait in DSM on Friday night.  That pic of us in front of the Wells Fargo stagecoach was taken by a security guy as we were leaving the arena.  Our seats were good, but a few rows up from being great.  The place was packed as you could see from the pic taken looking across the arena from our seats.  The big overhead video screens gave a good view to everyone. 

The opening act was Ronnie Dunn (of Brooks & Dunn fame).  He still has the voice, but he looks like a few miles of bad road.  His band was also a bit edgy, tatted, and more rocky than country.  George's band was 10-guys strong, and traditional country.  There were no wardrobe changes.  The highlight for me was the electricity in the area that came out upon George's entrance and through his first two songs.  Very cool.  Worth the trip...and the price of the secondary-market ticket.

Dinner in DSM was with our friends Dr. Doug and wife Carole at a new spot called the Blue Tomato (in West DSM).  Casual Italian fare with an open kitchen.  Not the longest menu, but not bad.  And they had a wine list apart from the menu.  Bonus.  We had a bottle of a nice, dry Sangiovese.  A very favorable over all experience.  I'd go back.

Also props go out to 3 and 3.1 for taking their time and making the effort to get back to Iowa for Easter.  They covered a lot of territory in less than 72 hours.  And 3 had to deal with her regional allergies throughout.  We tried an alcohol remedy by doing a little damage to the wine inventory on Saturday night at the fff bar-b-que on Century Heights.  Results were not that great.  Maybe better wine will help next time.

Those selfies were snapped within minutes of one another on the bike path Sunday afternoon.  (Yes, I am back in training mode.  New bike and all.)  I hadn't seen my first cousin Fran since last Summer.  He's not been able to run much the last year or so.  But he gets out there and does what he can.  And 2 and The W were out for their own walk.  Its a small world.

The pace on I-80 going over to DSM on Friday afternoon was a high as I can remember.  And it was basically bumper-to-bumper all the way over.  If you weren't doing 80, you had someone all over your back bumper.  We made it to the Newton exit for our Days Inn location in less than two hours.  That's pretty much record time.  I don't think everyone was going to the George Strait concert.

Oh, and the crowd at the concert was definitely classic white trash.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Lots of questionable outfits on the females.  Guys with plaid shirts, cowboy hats and boots.
Didn't see anyone of color.  I'm sure that progressive observers could come up with a laundry-list of the things wrong with America if they were to look at that assembly.  Rural America may never be relevant to the Transformationalist's.  We are hopeless.

24 ounce beer in aluminum cans was the drink of choice at the arena.  Its like a small pitcher.  A half carafe, for sure.  For $8-9.  Really not a bad price.  But that's a lot of beer!


My pal Bill and spouse are headed for some post-April 15th R&R at a resort in Turks and Caicos.  I had actually heard the name of the island previously, but had no idea of the location.  I think they do a lot of banking there...as in shadow-y banking.  They connect through Charlotte going, and Miami on the return.  Who would have thought Charlotte?

The guy who won the Boston Marathon yesterday is a previous winner of our local Bix Seven race.  He's scheduled to return here again in July.  I'm sure he'll get lots of requests for other appearances after yesterday.

OK.  Maybe more of a travelogue than anything, but at least I made an entry, yes?  More to come this week.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy some Spring!

BCOT

Monday

 
 

 

 

Wednesday

This entry marks what will hopefully be a return to a more normal life. These past couple of weeks have really been full of data processing in our tax software. If I had to do nothing but that for work all year long I'd be in serious need of psychological medication.

Some items of note during the last month:

1. Electronic filing is probably the best thing that has ever happened in the tax preparation business.
2. Our tax software is much smarter than I ever was with technical relationships within a return.
3. I always get a couple off-the-wall calls on April 15th on non-tax issues that make me wonder, "Customer: do you have any idea of what day it is?"
4. The April 15th party has pretty well gone away. It was me and @bcbison last night. And a guy at the bar who became our best-buddy.
5. My high-income clients pay a huge dollar amount of taxes. When I hear the current radio commercials hyping a proposed increase in Illinois state taxes on millionaires, I find it remarkable.
6. I cannot keep as many factoids in the air today as I could 20 years ago. If I don't write things down, I forget to get it done.
7. I beat the coffee shop opening-time (0530) a couple of times.
8. As hard as it may be to imagine, my signature has actually got worse.
9. There are several piles of random paperwork on flat surfaces in my office. One pile on the right side of my desk with the most active, recent additions may be toxic. I'm not so anxious to go through it.
10. The financial ratio of time spent and revenue realized for the last 30 days is a sad figure. Its a good thing that I get so much intangible benefits from the exercise.

The last return I worked on yesterday was my own. For some reason, I thought that I had done some calculations after the first of the year, but not so. And by that time of the day, I was not much interested in any fine-tuning. I took a guess, wrote a check, and filed the extension. Its always so fulfilling to work god-awful hours for several weeks, and then at the end of the exercise, get the thrill of sending more of your own money to Uncle Sam.

Today was RCL day...which is always a good day.

Dinner tonight with friends at Geneva is as close to an April 15th party as I will get this year. My pal Roy is opening his wine cellar for the occasion.

I took my new bike over to the shop today to get the add-on's that I knew I would have to acquire for the bike to be road-ready: cycling computer, bottle cages, pump and rear stow-bag. I remember when I did this with my first road bike 24 years ago. None of this stuff is cheap in the local bike-shop. I get it. They need to make money. Which is why I didn't do an on-line shopping spree. Not that spending another $150 on an already expensive bike gives me the warm and fuzzies. My first ride should be Saturday if the weather cooperates.

My iPad has begun to use more battery in idle mode. Curious that I'm getting this kind of thing now when it didn't occur previously. I can control it with Airplane Mode, but that requires another step in the protocol that LtPC just doesn't always remember to complete. I know that you need to close apps to avoid using battery life, but I think that the thing is just getting old. Maybe an upgrade is in my future!

OK. All for today. Get ready for more excitement on this site in the weeks ahead!!

BCOT



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday

Just putting up a few lines before getting to a the last few tax projects.

Aunt Rosie elected to tell me quietly that Daddy's birthday is actually April 19th.  I was less than two weeks off.  Not bad in my world.  I'm guessing that my referencing his obituary was a flawed protocol.  I may not have written the obit, but I was involved, for sure.

Today IS the folk's anniversary.  That is a date even I know is right.  The wedding was in 1936, making this their 78th anniversary. 

Notre Dame has announced that they are converting the football stadium surface to synthetic FieldTurf.  This is a situation that even traditionalists need to get past.  Given the climate in South Bend, maintaining a uniform field is problematic, at best.  Real grass doesn't grow much after September, and the base is always under stress.  With the advancement of the quality of artificial alternatives, I think this is a good move.  Particularly since there is no home field advantage to a ragged and unpredictable surface. 

Palm Sunday is today.  Let the progressive media take the opportunity to chide the Christians for belief in such hocus-pocus.

Saw a story on a sidebar this week that UConn men were 387th out of 388 in graduation rates among D-I basketball programs.  Not sure if that's something to be proud of, but maybe it serves as a further argument to separate the student from the athlete.

Sorry for the lack of original thought. 

BCOT

Thursday

After missing the mark on Mother's birthday last month, I'm a little apprehensive about another date miscalculation, but according to his original obituary, Daddy's birthday is today.  He would have been 104 year's young.  I'd put this pic, taken with Tahoe Phil's Babe Ruth squad, at circa 1955-56.  Making Daddy age 45-46.  Happy Birthday!

For the record, the Oracle of Iowa was Clan Champ in the women's pool.  I still got it!

Still under the gun of the filing date.  I'll maybe add something over the weekend.

BCOT

Monday

I'm taking a break for a few minutes from the number-crunching to check in here with my legion of fans.  I had meant to add a post yesterday, but ended up otherwise occupied last night and never got to the computer.

The moon and stars may be lined-up decently for me in spite of the stack of work here at the office.  On Sunday, one of my favorite cyclists, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, took the prize again in one of the Spring's big classic races, the Tour of Flanders.  Its a race in Belgium that covers over 150 miles in varying conditions and is highly valued by the peloton.  "Spartacus" is a Classics specialist, a combination of speed and strength, ideal for one-day races.  Imposters do not win these tests of mind and body.

Then last night, in a TV show that I didn't watch, my pal George Strait took home another Entertainer of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music, a fan-based organization perhaps a step down from the Country Music Association. (Basically, I think these award shows are set-up to provide content to the TV industry...and for the women stars to strut their stuff on the red carpet...like

city-folk!  Whatever.)  George still has it.  2 and I go over to DSM to see him live a week from Friday.

And in a rain-delayed NASCAR race down in Texas today, the 24 stole a second-place finish with a sixth-place car by taking only two-tires on a late pit stop.  That strategy worked since they were set up for a two-lap dash and the other cars who took four tires didn't have enough time to work their advantage.  (Over the course of a season or two, these things tend to balance out: the 24 lost a race a couple weeks ago when he had the lead, there was a late caution, and he got passed on the restart.)

An interesting twist on the 24's paint scheme for the race in Ft. Worth was that the car was sporting the colors of Texas A&M's engineering school.  I'm not sure why A&M felt the need to get on the track, but my guess is that it was pretty good PR all week long.  It was a spiffy look, for sure.

I don't have all that much interest in the championship game tonight.  Both teams have shown a resiliency that, like 'em or not, they both belong there.  I find it extremely hard to cheer for Calipari.

I actually have a considerably greater interest in the women's game tomorrow night.  UConn has always played the game without concern for running under-woman-ed teams out of the gym.  "If you put us on your schedule, you'd better be ready to play."  I think Auriemma is a good coach.  By contrast, I really don't like the ND coach as well, but she has managed to get the program to four straight Final Fours, and has won one.  (I feel real bad for the ND girl who tore her ACL in the regional final.)  Both teams are undefeated, as they haven't played this year because of conference realignment.  It is a spicey rivalry.  I don't think that the teams like one another much.  All said, UConn has to be favored.  I'd take the Huskies and give the points, whatever they are.

Enough for now.  Back to the pile.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Friday...Short Update

I actually thought I was going to get this done yesterday, but life got in the way.  Way too many tasks on the list.

My memory-wall calendars note that I've been outside on my bike numerous times in late March and early April in recent years.  Not so much for 2014.  I am also reminded to get my pre-emergent down in my yard.  Maybe Sunday.

Another sign of the different standard for D-1 college basketball coaches is being reported on the sports pages this week.  Kelvin Sampson, who got run out of not one, but two high-profile jobs in the past for rules-violations, has been hired by the University of Houston to lead the Cougars to the Holy Grail.  This follows on the heels of Auburn bringing admitted-liar Bruce Pearl back from the Wasteland to find some wins in the SEC.

Pearl is getting the bigger financial package at somewhere around $2 million a year.  Sampson is a cheap-date (?), apparently in for around a single mill-burger per year.  Desperation yields curious decisions.  But this is all about the student in the student-athlete equation.  Right.

Then you have some NY media folks criticizing the Mets' second baseman for taking a couple of days off to be with his wife for the birth of their child.  Really?  Will anyone even remember games from the first of April come September?  The player must be a Republican. 

The below link is to an article offering an interesting take on religion and environmentalism.  I have been bothered in recent years by the Left's willingness to discount Christianity for the sake of progressive beliefs that take an "enlightened" approach to our modern society. I'm no bible-thumper, but I've said for most of my adult life, a little religion is good for people. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/374672/judaism-christianity-environmentalism-dennis-prager

Minnesota wins the prize for the 69th best team in the country with their NIT victory in MSG last night.  I lose another dollar to 1.1.  This is the same game that the Hawks lost in a year ago.  My theory is that since ESPN doesn't have any of the NCAA games, they need content, and on a night with no other college games, they make their normal viewing numbers.  Whatever. 

(Totally obscure news.  Did anyone in the Peanut Gallery know that the CBI tournament has a best-of-three-game final pairing?  Bonus points if you know this year's finalists.)

Hope its a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

UPDATE: I meant to add this when I first posted today as yet another kerfuffle in the world of sports, but I got distracted.  Then when I put the golf tournament on the TV this afternoon, I remembered my thought. 

I'm really not sure how they get away with it, given the obvious turned-eye to political correctness, but Golf Digest has again justified a peripheral sex symbol for their annual fitness cover story.  Rather than feature one of the women on tour (and I think that they have numerous options who qualify with the right stuff), they pull in Dustin Johnson's fiancée...who just happens to be The Great One's daughter.  And a Paris Hilton wannabe.

Last year's cover talent was a gal from the Golf Channel, Holly Sonders, who at least has a direct involvement in golf commerce.  She's a studio host on a weekday morning show.  Her bio lists her as a Michigan State grad and a member of their Big 10 championship golf squad.  Whatever.  She looks good on the tube.

It seems like Golf Digest uses it's Fit edition similar to the SI swim suit mag, dropping any pretense of the sporting life for "sex sells".  Pics within the articles show even more skin.  I'm OK with that, as are probably most of the guys on the range.  I'm guessing that these once-a-year editions out-sell the other months by a long shot. 

(For what its worth, some of the girls in golf, tennis and Olympic sports...who have the assets...do calendars or fashion shoots to expand their careers.  And it seems to be accepted.  You don't even see much disparagement these days of Danica for having done the swim suit issue a couple of times.  Can you begrudge a girl who wants to make an extra buck?)

Is it the weekend yet?

BCOT

Tuesday II...Just Taking a Break...From my Work!!

4 advised me today in a call that my absence from the blog had been a bit of a disconnect for her...that she had broken any habit of daily checking it since there had been so many days with nothing new added to the story.  I get the reality of those kind of personal choices that we all make.

I may have commented here previously that 2 has professed the theory that it takes 21 days to make/break a habit.  There are a number of Google hits on this 21-day hypothesis.  I'm thinking that 21 days for the simple things in life like not eating ice cream or taking a 30-minute walk can be habit-forming in that three-week stretch.  Obviously, the more complicated the habit, the more debatable the time frame to make/break it.

Don't get the idea that 4000 Days is in trouble.  While I do use it as a means to keep me involved an often one-sided conversation with the fam, the personal benefits remain very rewarding.  Once the cloud of April 15th passes, I'll be exploring other ideas to maybe add some freshness to what can be an oft-repeated story.  As 2 is quick to point-out, some of my meanderings here are not that surprising to her...she lives out many of these stories in real-time.

CPA's go through the doldrums this time of year every year.  (I actually thought that The Doldrums had a Greek mythology origin, but if so, its not on the first couple of Google pages.  I must have been doing a crossword that day in Mythology class.)  Mine are far from serious, but there's definitely a deep rut to be followed these next couple of weeks.  Inspiration is not part of the trail.

OK.  Got that out of my system.  I don't even want that last brownie.

Props to 1 and 1.1 for hosting March Madness again.  Props to 3 and 3.1 for the rooms at the Sheraton and the related diversion for 1.01 and 1.02 in the hotel swimming pool.  Props to @srh4 for the lasagna for Saturday's din-din.  And props to 2 for again riding shot-gun in the Buick for 12+ hours.  Its always nice when a plan comes together and works out as planned!

We did yeoman's work supporting the family tradition with a wine party in the hotel lobby late on Friday night.  2, 3, 3.1 and myself.  Three bottles of Rodney Strong top shelf.  I had brought along some throw-away (but reuseable) wine glasses from Maplecrest after an unsatisfactory experience at my last hotel stay while on the road earlier in March.  The glasses definitely added some class to the party.  (The maids must have thought we had used hotel glassware as the glasses disappeared with the Saturday cleaning of the rooms!  Glad they were throw-away's.)


Prepare for our favorite day.

BCOT

Tuesday

Sorry for the lack of new material here.  Even though 4's absence made the weekend up North a small-case fff, it was a gathering that made writing an after-thought.  That plus the seasonal business of the office has made the blog an infrequent diversion.  Don't look for a lot of additional entries over the next couple of weeks.

The Home Page pic is from the hilltop patio area in Agrigento, Sicily where 2 and I had a couple glasses of wine last September.  I kept trying to eye-ball that ship in the sea to see if it was moving.

The pics below are from the March Madness weekend.  Except for the Four-Girls pic which must have been at my place over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Blogger has been a bit of a nuisance here so I'll close for now.  Hope it is a good day in your neighborhood.

BCOT