Friday

A few lines to catch up on for the week.

Well, that Home Page pic won't last for long.  It was taken with my iPhone around 0540 this AM and the quality just sucks.  Sorry.  But we are moving into the "biking" phase of my world, and as much as that view from the Isle of Capri is postcard-perfect, 4000 Days works with the "now"...which is country roads, hills, bugs and The Morning Ride with @bcbison.

2 needs to get my Canon mini-digi back to me for these things.  The Fuji is just a cut-below the Canon for whatever reason.

I've felt good enough on the bike to take to the roads this week for the first time.  Those days last week in Woodbury were helpful.  I did have a mechanical problem with the new bike early yesterday that left me with one pedal!  The fix is on and I'll pick up the repaired new ride this afternoon.  Someone made an assembling error...obviously, something wasn't locked on.

The breakdown lead me to the back-up bike which I hadn't had outside for 2-3 years.  That Trek would have been acquired in 1991, I think.  It was a worthy ride at the time, and still feels adequate.  The geometry is a little "off", and I'd need to replace the handlebar set-up if I were to spend any amount of time on it.  And I'd definitely need another few gears.  I can't believe I was able to get up some of those TOMRV hills on just those ratio's!  (Then again, those ride were a few years back!)

2 has taken a shot at a logo for the MapleCrest Social Club.  I'm thinking that we could be close to a keeper.  I can see t-shirts, Polo's, and hats.  (I may not be kidding.)

Here's my observation on the VA politics.  The VA is a mix of Federal bureaucracy, public unions and the mess of health care.  If that isn't a prescription for a disaster, I don't know what is.  Health care is rife with administrators and bloated administration offices that draw head-shaking salaries/fees for non-care-giving functions.  The VA Director who resigned today is a fall-guy for sure, but there was no way he could stay given the public outrage.  The CINC will repeat the phrase, "This has been going on too long" repeatedly in the days/weeks ahead.  "Its Bush's fault" never gets old.  The test will be whether the culture can be changed in the system.  Never an easy task when folks with self-interests are protected by rules and contracts.  Think: tenured teachers.

Those more elderly GI's (WWII and Korea) spent their enlistments following rules/orders.  The Viet Nam vets have a bit of a bunker mentality because of the poor way that they were treated by the public upon their return from Asia. Collectively, these guys have low expectations from the VA because its "the government".  Its taken activists from younger generations to demand an accountability for medical treatment rendered (or not) for their dads, uncles, etc.  Bottom line from LtPC: get politics out of this...do the right thing.

All for today.  Looks like MCSC tonight, golf in Geneva tomorrow, and the first DeWitt Ride of the Summer on Sunday AM.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

Obviously, I've been deficient here as I've done my travel over the last couple of weeks.  The pics shown in the earlier post were from my iPhone camera using the Blog Press app.  I haven't figured out an easy way to get those shots taken with the phone onto the blog.

First things first. 1 gets a designation as Daughter of the Day for her Sunday birthday.  It was a fun day with a nice little party on Harvest Path.  Family.  Presents.  Party hats.  Birthday cake.  A good time was had by all.

I was pleased to get out for bike rides each day in Minnesota.  None were longer than 25 miles, but progress is progress.  The TOMRV ride to Galena is now less than two weeks away, so every mile in the book is a good mile.  This is the third year in a row that I have made the trek to Woodbury for the Memorial Day weekend with the bike.  I can see that tradition continuing for a few years.  The Woodbury area has lots of bike paths and roads with wide shoulders that make road-cycling less stressful than most places.

One down-side to traveling on the Memorial Day weekend is that I miss attending the ceremony over at Arsenal Island.  Its usually a pain to get to, and the speakers are almost always forgettable.  But it is Memorial Day, and the fallen soldiers deserve an effort in recognition.  I may make a trip over there this week as a make-up date. 

Speaking of cycling, the Quad Cities Criterium was held today at a new venue in the Village of East Davenport.  This is an event that they've had for close to 50 years, but the race has been on life-support in recent years at its location in downtown Rock Island.  (My firm was the primary sponsor of the race for a couple of years, but I elected to not renew the contract due to what I thought was substantial mis-management.)  They brought in a new race director last Summer and he immediately started to shake things up.  I liked his pitch and threw a little cash their way on a non-public basis.  I'll be curious if they consider today a success.

Here's a shot of 1.01 on her new two-wheeler (with training wheels...for now).  It shouldn't take her too long to catch on to the deal.  She doesn't like to not be able to do stuff, and she's a little miffed right now at the breaking business.  But in a day not far from now, she'll figure it out...and she'll be off to the races (so to speak!).

How's this for the "Hard to Believe" category:  I had to turn my air on tonight!  The outside temp is still in the humid mid-70's...and there's no way I could sleep in that damp heat.  I sure hope that we don't just by-pass Spring after that long-in-the-tooth Winter.

The departure pic today on Harvest Path was not well-received by those under age 5. 

So my goal this week is to hit the blog at least three times.  A guy has to have a goal.  Lots to do at work to wrap up the month.  Man, what happened to May?

And finally, in the "What its Worth Department", by the time we make it to Tahoe, the original 4000 days will be down to triple-digits.  That's a bit of sobering math.

Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Weekend Pics

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Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday

This will be a full travel day for me. If you don't start at oh-dark-hundred when traveling against the clock, you can kiss the day good bye. And I wasn't that interested in the early flight. I'm still not sure why I scheduled myself through Detroit on my way home. Seems like a bit out of the way. Had to be price.

The TSA pre-check designation is probably the best thing that has happened to me in my flying experience. This AM, not only was the screening agent extremely accommodating, they had a separate line set up for the pre-screened for the metal detector and x-raying of carry-on. I was the only guy in that line as I went through, while the non-pre-screened had another lengthy wait through their processing. Suite deal.

I really stumbled on to a great hotel location this time which will be very useful in future non-golfing trips to Phoenix/Scottsdale. The area at the intersection of the Loop 101 and Shea Boulevard is a well-developed, conveniently located, mixed-use area for retail, dinning and lodging. The fact that Total Wine was just a 5-minute drive was an un-planned bonus. The hotel was a Country Inn and Suites with Hampton Inn perks. At only $60 per night, it was an option well within my corporate budget. If there had been a Starbuck's next door, it would have been a home run. As it was, I didn't have to drive far for coffee.

I remain impressed with the Hertz program. While they initially had put a small truck in my name-designated spot because they were short on compact cars Saturday, I asked that they give me a car, so they just upgraded me to a mid-sized Chrysler, which was a real nice ride.








The return was slick again, and in addition to the printed receipt that they gave me in the garage, an emailed receipt was in my office email before I even went through security. And the base rate of $20 per day was another cheap date for the corporate pocketbook. (The airport add-on "fees" actually amounted to almost as much as the rental fee. Let's soak those out-of-towner's!!)

The business-side of this trip was also a success. Good meetings. Good information obtained. It always feels good on the way home when the goals for a big-effort trip actually get met.

Moving on...

I made an effort to stay on CDT while in AZ. This meant some early rising times by the local clock, but I like the idea of maybe getting out early on the bike tomorrow, and I didn't want the bod to be used to a later time. Since the phone and iPad automatically switch to local time, I leave my Timex on Central time, and just keep playing the math game of, "What time is it, really?"

The hotel had free HBO on the room TV so I watched a couple of movies to avoid the commercials. One was the last Bourne film, The Bourne Legacy(?), which I found to be mostly tedious. Those chase and fight scenes got long, repetitive and boring. While the movie generally met one of my two fundamental criteria for a flick (plenty of killing early), the writers/producers/director assumed that I cared way too much about the franchise for me to connect all of the dots. In the last 20 minutes of the show, I rarely looked up from my crossword. I did note that they closed the film with that same squeaky(?) music like they used at the end of the first Bourne movie. That was where they had the camera chasing the waves to the Greek coast where the girl was running the motor scooter rental store. Was that the thread that brought the story lines together? Whatever.

Since I didn't enter a post over the weekend, I'm giving 2 another recognition as DAUGHTER OF THE DAY for her birthday on the 18th. Here's an "action shot" with 1.01 at 2nd Coffee one morning recently in Woodbury.










I also confess to reading the NYT on both Sunday and today while on this trip. (Hat-tip to 2 for picking up on that factoid in one on my Twitter pic's.). I figured that I wanted a fully loaded Sunday paper for the coffee shop since I had no pals to chat with and the local fish-wrap in Phoenix is awful.

I remain impressed with the wide range of topics and geography covered in the Times. This commitment to global news and to the arts is admirable. Their tendency to slant all stories to a more progressive perspective? Meh. Not something I could take as a steady diet.




The cover story to the weekly NYT Magazine in the Sunday edition was about an experiment at the University of Texas-Austin to try to increase the success-rate of incoming freshmen from historically under-achieving demographics. It's an article worth the read. Essentially, the professors running this program at UT have been able to prove that changing the self-perceptions of the individuals in these identified groups has lead to significantly better results on the staying-in-school barometer. While my first reaction to this effort is that it sounds like a typical academic Do-Gooder's tendency toward looking through the rose-colored glasses at every issue, I'm
willing to let this program go forward for more discussion.

Education and family remain the keys to breaking the chain of poverty. Throwing more money at programs that have failed to deliver the goods seems like your standard government vision of "help". If there is something as simple as changing the delivery system to accomplish real change, we need to get there. I was in a pretty deep conversation about education with my pal Roy's brother Martin recently. Martin has been involved in some philanthropic education programs for years, and he preaches that long-term economic change requires jumping some educational sharks. My biggest concern here is that our colleges and universities seem more intent these days in getting progressive-thought taught to students rather than actually getting students to progress.

Let's see if I can get this published now that I'm on the ground.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday

So here is another entry coming to you from The Friendly Skies. Actually, I'm on Delta, but you get the drift. Destination PHX for a couple of days. Client meetings on Monday, back to MLI on Tuesday. The possible Sunday side trip to San Diego is a no-go. Too many uncertainties...plus the heat and fires in the SD area just aren't worth the hassle.

Middle seat. A VERY needy toddler in the row immediately behind me. But with a nod to the Glad Game, my flights have been on time, security at MLI was a non-event, and the Scottsdale Total Wine store is on the way to my hotel.

It's 2's Tax Birthday, so she gets the recognition as DAUGHTER OF THE DAY. Think this shot must be on the rode to/from Mt. Etna on Sicily.



I had dinner last night at Biaggi's with my pal Rob who is in town from California. (His dad just passed away. I've done work for the family for 20+ years.). Anyway, Rob was recently in Italia and couldn't quite contain himself when describing their difficult driving experiences on the Italian roads. Sounds like they relied too heavily on the GPS unit without doing any advance planning.

I look back on our 2013 trip and while we did have a few mis-steps, 2 did a great job with Google Maps to get us from place to place. This in much contrast to our experience in Verona and Torino in 2009 where we did the no-advance-planning thing...and no GPS service. Then when 4 and I were in Bilbao in 2011, again with no GPS device, it was a mid-major disaster just finding the hotel. Twice. Yeah. We won't be doing a European trip again without Maps or the equivalent.

In all, you could say that the third time (trip) was a charm. (No excuse for that Bilbao mess-up, Kiddo. I failed to deliver the goods.)

The NASCAR All-Star event is tonight. Somehow, I missed the fact that they did the race-in race for the otherwise non-qualifying drivers last night. The top two finishers of that race got in to tonight's main event, as did another driver who was voted in by the fans. Danica had been the fan-voted-in driver the last couple of years, and her loss to a much lesser-known driver by the name of Wise was not without controversy.

It seems like this kid Wise has developed an Internet following this year on Reddit. I don't even know what Reddit is, but apparently the system may have produced some automated voting. (I don't have Internet as I write this, so I can't even get a little more info to explain things. Maybe I'll do an update once I get to the hotel and have had a chance to look up Reddit and figure out the process.)


I actually thought it would have be good for another driver to get the voted-in spot anyway. The Danica-craze has gone far enough on just her presence at the track. She's at a point where needs to race her way into this event going forward.

The triple-A version of NASCAR, the Nationwide series, is at the Newton, Iowa track this weekend. NASCAR took over ownership of the facility last year and all the bigwigs were in Newton this week to promote their entertainment package. I think that attendance has been reasonable in the past, but it is the middle of Iowa, and the population density could be a problem. One of the gas stations and a hotel at the track's I-80 exit have been closed at various times in the last year. I might take the Under if the bet were Newton remaining open with NASCAR events 5 years from now.

Congratulations to 1.01 on her new bike. I'm looking forward to riding with her next weekend when I visit Harvest Path (with my bike) for Memorial Day.

The last doo-dad for my new bike was installed this week. A second water bottle cage. For $20. A very foo-foo design and material. But Really. $20?

All for now. Hope it has been a good day in your area code. Thanks for reading.

BCOT



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Friday

Cold and rainy in the QCA today.  Glad to see Friday.

There was a near tragedy across the street early this AM.  When I woke up for my standard middle-of-the-night bathroom break around 0200, I heard the steady drone of a heavy-equipment engine.  I walked to my front room, and out the window, I saw on the street several fire trucks (I later counted 7) engaged in some serious work on the house directly across from me!  I was really stunned as I hadn't heard a siren or any loud commotion.

Turns out that a fire had broken out in the second story of the house, a car passing by had called the cops, and the fire department was dispatched...arriving to waken the family!  The fire had taken hold at the back of the house, and could have trapped the three kids in the upstairs bedrooms if the firemen hadn't arrived when they did.  The owner is the neighbor with the snow thrower on his riding mower who did my driveway several times last Winter.

As I was leaving for work early this AM, the owner happened to be stopping at his next door neighbor's for something and I was able to chat with him briefly.  He said that they aren't sure of the cause, but probably an electrical short in the attic.  Everyone got out with no problem.  But he didn't mention smoke alarms...which means...GO REPLACE THE BATTERIES IN YOUR SMOKE ALARMS!!!

That's one of those life things that just hits too close to home to ignore.  In this case, literally too close to home.

If you didn't see it on my Twitter feed yesterday, my decision to take a work-out bike ride after lunch turned out to be one of those, "Maybe not the best choice" events.  Conditions really weren't that bad as I started out, but that lasted only about 15 minutes.  First rain.  Then cold rain.  Then hail.  Yeah.  One of those rides that disincentivizes you for future foul weather adventures.  I actually had to stop under a bridge for a while to get out of the hail barrage. 

(It is worth noting that the only other person I saw on the bike path during this rain/hail storm was our 80-year-old first cousin Fran.  It was too lousy out to chat, but I did tell him that you would think that a couple of old farm boys from Wapello County would be smart enough to get out of this kind of weather.  Extremely slow learners are us.)

On the brighter side of news, I actually had a good experience talking with a customer service rep with Medicare yesterday.  Among those facts: 1) I really had a low expectation of getting an answer to my question, 2) I knew I would be initially getting a useless auto voice system, 3) As a new user, I figured my situation had no stock answer, and 4) I had doubts whether I would like the ultimate resolution of my billing on a pure economic basis.

My initial fears were prophetic.  The auto voice system is predictably annoying, and the front-line rep was just reading from her standard manual. But that rep was smart enough to put me through to a more-experienced person, and that guy saw the inconsistency in my billing statements.  It took a few minutes to figure out how the system had worked the math, but given the coverage period and the table-rates, the total billed appears to be the right number.  If the next bill then adjusts to a recurring number that has no further adjustments, I'll be satisfied.

Long story short, there are base rates that are adjusted upward if your income gets to a certain amount on the prior year tax returns.  So I pay more than a lower income earner.  I don't mind that. 

Let's give 4 the recognition of Daughter of the Day.  She's now on her new schedule which makes today her "Sunday".  She says that she's still adjusting to the change where she now has Thursday and Friday off rather than Monday and Tuesday.  Heck.  I have trouble figuring out my days too.  I've been off one day all week this week.  Was Monday that bad?  Whatever.  You are a star, Kiddo!

I'm on the road again this weekend.  Phoenix/Scottsdale for client meetings.  Back Tuesday.  I'll be posting from the road. 

Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Wednesday

May 14th.  How did we get there so fast?  Like I said in an earlier post, May will be a vapor trail.

I forgot to mention that the GPS golf watch worked entirely as advertised on Sunday down at Geneva.  That was my first time breaking it out for use at my home course.  I even had to hit a couple buttons to have it go to the 10th hole to start with as we teed off on the back nine because of some traffic on the front.  Not a problem.  My pal Ron even began asking me for his yardage rather than pulling out his hand-held range-finder for his shots.  Bottom line...this was a great gift for the Lt.

Good to get 2 back in our area code.  The W was a welcome guest, but she does change my routines.

The Giro d' Italia is in full swing across the pond.  They actually started the race with three stages in Ireland, and then flew the riders to southern Italy to begin anew in a town (Bari) that 2 and I considered visiting before we decided our 2013 itinerary from Naples to Sicily.  Now the race heads North, eventually getting to the mountains.  With a May race, they always face the possibility of snow limiting access to the scheduled routes in the Dolomites.

Interestingly, the biggest stage race in the USA, the Tour of California, is going on this week on the Left Coast.  This is the race that was supposed to start at Lake Tahoe a few years back, and they had to cancel the first stage entirely, and abbreviate the second stage because of snow.  Without Lance, Levi, and the other bigger domestic names that once attracted local (USA) interest, I'm guessing that the bar has been lowered in determining what amounts to success for the organizers of this race.  They have a title sponsor, and some bigger names from the European circuit.

I admit to watching the season finale of NCIS last night.  Usually, I just don't have the patience to sit through an hour show.  Anyway, my one take-away's was the appearance in the funeral scene for Gibbs' father of recurring guest Billy Dee Williams as the older Gibbs' long-time friend.  Billy Dee Williams made his biggest splash in the movies as a character in the 2nd and 3rd Star Wars movies in the early '80's.  He also played the lead in a Chicago cult sports TV movie called Brian's Song (playing Gayle Sayers).  He has a long list of roles.  I'm betting that any actor/actress of note over age 30 could be connected to him in two degrees of separation.

In honor of 3, here's our weekly appearance of the Ship of the Desert.

Make it a good Wednesday in your world.

BCOT

Monday

Really thought I would get something up here over the weekend, but somehow it didn't happen.  My house guest throws off my equilibrium.  No necessarily in a bad way, but she definitely introduces additional considerations into my routines.  She misses 2.

My pal Ron and I had our first golf match of the season yesterday, and I came home $2 to the good.  I'm not sure if my back or left knee hurt worse today, but the result was a suite outcome.  One of the keys to my success was my new fairway 3 metal (can't call 'em "woods" anymore) that I bought online last month.  I'm calling it my "Ron Killer" a la a wedge in my bag called "the Roy Killer".  Should I be naming all my clubs?  Interesting idea.

The W presents a variable daily activity level that reminds me a little of the "Sundowner's" condition that elderly people will sometimes exhibit at dusk.  Mother was often anxious and a bit over-animated as the day transitioned to evening.  With W, its a mid-day thing when her body seems achy and she's much less spry.  But for that first early morning walk, she's tearing at the leash, and about the same in the evening.  There's something to the timing of her comfortableness.

Big win for the 24 on Saturday night in Kansas.  I didn't see any of it as there was a party over at Ron's for his birthday.  The 24 is having a great year.  The almost bigger news was Danica finishing 7th after having run with the boys at the front all night.  Good for her.

Another bright idea came to me last week that could be a financial break-through in these times of low interest rates.  I'm calling it the the Dunn Savings Solution.  The coffee shop keeps a standard gift card for me at the check-out register.  At this point in our relationship, I walk into the shop and someone usually just automatically starts to prepare my Americano.  I'm pretty sure that they don't always remember to charge my card each time.  I routinely throw $20 on to the card once a week or every 10 days to make sure that I'm not a liability to the shop.  I rarely ask for a balance receipt.

The long and the short of this cozy relationship is that my card balance keeps growing.  If we look at my daily coffee as my return on investment, and my routine funding as additional savings, I think we're talking about a new financial instrument.

All for tonight.  Long day on the road to DSM.  Rain.  Our ground was dry.  My sump pump has finally spooled-up.  Good or bad?  Well, mostly, I'm glad it works.

Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Friday

Sunny and not-quite 75 in the QCA today.  Feels like Spring, not Winter, which is good.

This is the one week of the year where the trees in my yard are on their best behavior.  The blooms make for a pretty picture.  Beginning next week, the blooms will have fallen, a mysterious blight will start, and by the end of July the leaves will be mostly gone.  And that's even after the PN has sprayed all of the trees for disease.

Life with The Winniferous has been as expected.  I'm actually a little tired from our walks.  Evenings are much better as the wildlife is less in evidence and she is less distracted. 

Tahoe Phil advises me that I missed his birthday by one day.  Meh.  That's within my margin of error on almost anything.

I had virtually no interest in the NFL draft last night, except that I was curious if Johnny Football would make it as a high pick.  When he wasn't in the top three, I took The W for a walk, and only referred back to the draft occasionally while online.  I noticed that he was chosen 22nd by Cleveland.  I almost hope that he succeeds to prove the detractors wrong.  Not that I'm a big fan of his, but the sports writers/broadcasters/columnists are just awful. 

The kid is a little like Joe Theismann from my days at ND.  A little on the small side.  Wiry.  Quick feet.  Deceptive skills.  Annoying personality.  Joe had a decent career...won a Super Bowl with Washington and went to the Pro Bowl a couple of times.  (He may be a little like the Vikings' Fran Tarkenton as well.  Also a Hall of Famer.)  So Johnny has a shot.  Buckle up, Dawg Pound!


ND even had a player chosen before Manziel, Zack Martin, an offensive lineman who was chosen 16th by the Cowboys.  Not that I knew the kid's name or position before checking the news today.  But the fact that ND has been getting some players drafted is an indication that their talent level has been up-graded by the current coach.  You don't compete with the big boys without top-notch talent.

The whole draft day extravaganza is another example of our excesses.  What would Mel Kiper do if this was all still done with a few phone calls?  Tell me that there isn't some big money involved. 

Headed out for the evening.  Might open the BBQ on Maplecrest tonight.  Hope all of the Mom's in the Peanut Gallery have a nice weekend.  If you're reading 4000 Days, you're a good Mom.  I know my readership!

BCOT

Thursday

I elected to substitute the Home Page pic of My Favorite Tree with this postcard-of-a-shot from a top-of-the-hill vantage point on the Isle of Capri.  And rather than crop it down to fit the page, I have left it a bit oversized to capture the exceptional view.  That's mainland Italia in the distance.  Very cool.

In keeping with my jumbled memory on family dates this year, I'm giving Tahoe Phil the Brother of the Day designation for his birthday.  Its somewhere in this range...I think!  Here we are last August when 2 and I spent a couple of days in Incline on our way to the Sonoma half marathon.  By my count, we'll be back at the lake in about 80 days.

I dusted off my golf clubs yesterday and joined my pal Cal for nine holes at Geneva after work.  I had to take my clubs out of the travel bag where they had been since my return from the Florida trip in February.  I actually was able to put the club face on the ball most of the time.  But I have a long way to go if I want to lower my handicap this year.  This may be a year to put money on my pal Ron in our recurring matches. 

It was great to get outside in 80-degree weather.  Winter had hung on so long, I wasn't sure that we would ever see Summer.  Climate change and all.  Bush.  Koch brothers.  Tea Party.  House Republicans.  Its all explainable.


I took a selfie of myself, Cal and our buddy Roy in the bar after golf.  Roy had been in Europe last week and this was a bit of a "Welcome Home" session.  He's got a rotator cuff problem and his golf may be reduced to instruction this year.

My life with my temporary roommate has been going as expected.  The W slips into the routine on Maplecrest with little trouble.  Plenty of walks.  Lots of live game in the yards and trees to rev up her hunting instincts.  But I am counting the days until 2's return.

Maybe more here later.  Make it a Good Thursday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a few lines today to check in with The Maddening Crowd.

I experienced a little deja vu all over again today when I checked the memory card of my back-up mini-digi (the Fuji...that was once the primary mini-digi...before I lost it's predecessor and then had to repeatedly send this one back to the manufacturer for repairs).  2 took the new primary mini to Arizona for her boobdoggle in The Valley of The Sun.

There were several pics on this card from Italy and Sicily that I had not loaded onto the desktop.  Some very cool shots that brought back many great memories.

This first one was taken of our parking space in Salerno.  The B&B family had room for maybe three cars in what was just a sliver of a driveway.  And then you have me assembling my bike that first day in town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogger is at it again.  I added the pictures all at once, and now I can't do normal paragraphs.  Love this technology.  By Plan B may be implemented.

 

I'm headed down to Muskie to do a little golf with my pal Cal.  I'll get back here later.

 

Happy Hump Day to the world.  And Happy Weekend to 4!!

 

BCOT

Monday

Another successful weekend visit to Harvest Path is in the books.  No snow, freezing temps or traffic problems.  I really like these non-notable trips when the hangin' out program is not challenged by the elements.

The Home Page pic was snapped on my way home yesterday afternoon with my iPhone as I blasted by at around 80 mph.  It isn't the best focus, but the combination of speed and traffic makes that shot a bit iffy.  And its a one-and-done deal.  No do-over.  It always gets to me how close the tree seems to be with just normal vision, and how distant it ends up being through the lens.  Blowing in the pic up for a bigger presentation adds to the lack of sharpness.

I hesitate to recognize Cinco de Mayo today for fear of being considered a racist.  But I'll go with it anyway.  Seems like a good reason to order some Margarita's, si?

In that light, you have Dartmouth College cancelling a Cinco de Mayo fundraiser scheduled by a sorority/fraternity because one of the school's student's was offended by the "Americanization" of the holiday.  It was label as a "Phiesta" by the sponsors as a play on words with their Greek organizations' names.  The travesty of it!  Who knew that serving up a few burritos was being racially insensitive?


I elected to invest another not-so-small amount into the BEATER last week.  It had been running pretty rough and needed a tune-up for sure, maybe tires, and routine maintenance.  I really like having that back-up car, so I gave the mechanic the green light to fix those items, plus a couple of others.  We'll see how long it holds out this time.  I may even clean it up some one of these days.

3 and 3.1 spent the weekend with friends at the Wells Fargo golf tournament in Charlotte.  Its a small world.  3's friend Amanda (a NYC resident who did one of the readings at the Tahoe wedding) has been dating a guy from Charlotte whose dad is the Tournament Director for the tournament.  The dad, and son, grew up in our Quad City area and Dad was the director at the local PGA event, the John Deere Classic...until Charlotte poached him around 10 years ago.  I guess the son went to Iowa too... as did Amanda.  So we have millennial's from Iowa, working in The Big Apple and connecting with other Iowans in North Carolina.  Yeah, Six Degrees of Separation is a little on the high side.

One of my understated highlights of the NYC visit was the completion of another Chicago Sun Times pattern-less crossword puzzle that I finished up the Monday afternoon that I spent with 4 in Washington Square Park.  Its a rarity for me, mostly because they're so hard that I usually don't even make an attempt...and I only buy the Sun Times when I'm passing through C-town.  Not only do you have the challenge of the clues, you also have to figure out the black boxes for word lengths.  Its a math exercise as well as a test of language skills.

I was able to get most of the Friday and Saturday NYT crosswords done this past weekend as well.  There's no question that success on these brain challenges is partially related to getting the mind ramped-up to the complexities, and then keeping it set in the "on" position.  I find that I go through phases where I get a lot of self-worth out of good results...and then just get tired of the endless trickery that some of the puzzles present.  And some puzzles are poorly constructed so that they do not reward creative thought, but rather fall flat with illogical solutions.

So do you want more crossword philosophy, or should I jump over to NASCAR?

All for now.  Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT