Sunday

Good to be back on Maplecrest.  The weekend up in Minnesota was fun, but its always good to be back home.

We'll make 1.01 and 1.02 Grandchildren of the Day for entertaining the Lt. for the weekend.  Other than a couple of small "episodes", they both did well during my visit.  They weren't so keen on a departure pic, but it makes publication regardless.

 That car in the photo is one from my pal Roy's stable.  Actually, it was that car's predecessor that I drove occasionally several years ago before I bought my first Buick and the BEATER war my primary car.  If I had a trip to KC or C-town for business in those couple of years, I would borrow the Caddy from Roy as I didn't want to rely on the Taurus. 

This model is a hot rod!  Cadillac CTS-V.  A 6-speed manual transmission with a Corvette engine boosting out around 500 horsepower!  Step on the gas a be prepared to go.  Really a fun ride.  (Roy was driving it last week, just to give it some use.  I asked to let me take it for the weekend, and got the answer I knew he'd give.)  By the way, there is a down side when it comes to mileage and the grade of gasoline.  One's down and the other's up.  Let's just say that you don't drive it for the economy of it.

I did get out on a 15 mile ride on Saturday afternoon.  It was super windy and I tried to do an East-West route to minimize the southerly gale.  That took me down to the little town of Afton.  Some pretty good hills.  Then the clouds came up and I figured that a shorter ride was better than getting soaked.  As it turned out, I coulda done the additional 10 that I had scheduled as the rain held off for an hour or so...and then came in and washed out the planned bar-b-que.

My mind under-performed on the trip.  I didn't even come close to the Friday and Saturday NYT crosswords.  Sometimes you just don't get the gist of where they're headed.  This was certainly one of those times.  Very annoying.  And I left two...repeat, TWO...bags of personal belongings in the basement at 1's.  And I know I made a special, final walk-through to confirm that I left no chargers in sockets or hygiene items in the bathroom.  While I left no chargers in sockets, I incredibly managed to leave the entire bag of chargers, bike lights, iPad and assorted electronics.  Suite deal.

Also in the Sometimer's bin, I failed to pack a cycling jersey for my Minnesota riding.  So on Saturday, I was forced to put into play a dri-fit golf shirt for the ride.  How Walmart-ish!  No back pockets in that shirt.  So I had to stuff my phone in the seat bag, which meant a couple of items had to be removed.  That created a ripple in the force too.

And I almost forgot that on the way up to Minny on Friday, I had elected to go the Rochester route as I feared construction on I-35.  Well, my mind being on a walkabout, I drove North on US Route 61 to Dubuque rather than simply take the normal route of I-80 over to Waterloo, and then up to Rochester.  And Route 61 beyond Dubuque takes you through a bunch of small towns.  I eventually got to Rochester by way of LaCrosse, but it wasn't much fun.  And it definitely took an extra 30 minutes of driving time.  Attaboy, PC.

I did come back the Rochester route today, via Waterloo, and I think that that will be my primary route for the future...at least until those roads go under construction.  That route gets me past my favorite tree in West Branch.  Current photo.

The book-on-tape for the trip was a murder mystery.  I'm wondering if the author struggled with alternative endings.  What he ended up with was at least two extra tapes that left me suspicious that he got off track and couldn't find a convenient way back...and ended up with two separate, almost unconnected, murders that he tried to weave as part of the same story. Do books, when read out loud to an audience, come across differently than when people read them silently to themselves? 

(Just too hard to get this rotated a half turn to the left.  Sorry.  You'll need to do a little eye-tilt here!)

With no good lighting options, that early ride will be a little later tomorrow.

Its a busy week ahead for the fam.  Take my advice: go to a written checklist.

Thanks for reading.  Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Wednesday

 

 
 
 

I'm throwing 2 under the bus for getting my schedule totally off track today.  That 0330 wake up call to get her to the airport put my system in the, "What's the deal now?" mode.  Having not been able to go to sleep last night, I'm short on rest.  That idea for an early ride upon return from the airport didn't fly (pardon the pun).  And it was too late to go back to bed.  All in all, just an "off" morning.

It is "that" day of the week. 

In The Joys of Home Ownership category today is the report that I had a plumber over to Maplecrest yesterday to fix a water leak that had developed within the last week.  I was getting irregular, but obviously dripping in the basement below the kitchen sink.  Turns out that the leak was actually on the water line connection to the upstairs toilet that is on the other side of the wall from the kitchen.  I hadn't inspected that possibility, but would have called the plumber to fix it even if I had noticed that as the problem.

I was on a tight schedule and wasn't able to stay with the plumber as he finished his repairs, so I just had him write up the ticket, gave him a check and I took off for my meeting.  (The RCL was also there as she had rescheduled herself to Tuesday this week.  So she was going to be able to lock up the place after both she and the plumber were done.)  The great finishing touch to the story is that when I got home last night and checked out the bathroom fix, the toilet wouldn't flush! 

As per our agreement when I left him to do his work, he was also going to replace the aged valve system on the water tank for the toilet.  Turns out that he used the old chain between the flush handle and the valve in the tank, and that chain must have snapped with the test flush that he surely did before he left.  An example of Murphy's Law in home repairs.  Fortunately, I do have the skills to replace that chain!

(For the record, the irregular presentation of paragraphs today is another Blogger snafu.  I can't get it to left-justify after having first put up the camel pic.)

I may be in the market for a new CD player (or whatever is the proper system these days) for my listening pleasure on Maplecrest.  My now 12-15 year old CD player (a cheap Best Buy model) ate a couple of disc's last night, and the amplifier occasionally kicks itself to "mute".  Not that I have that big of a CD collection, but I like George or Garth in the background when I'm doing the crosswords.  Much of the time, I have the DirecTV playing the Classic Country station as the easy option.

My original venture into music equipment (which I may have related here previously...sorry!), was from my USAF days in South Korea.  I came home with lots of speakers, a big amplifier, and various tape players, noise reduction units and other "black boxes" that may have done nothing other than lighten my wallet.  But at the time, the system looked pretty impressive!  (My original self-made plywood bookcase was built to house this equipment.)  The speakers may still be in use as end tables on Century Heights Avenue.

If I had more interest, this turn of events could be the incentive to re-invent the furniture arrangement in my living room.  If I don't need the old entertainment console to support an archaic sound system, why not bring in some new stuff?  But then you get into some "tail wagging the dog" logic that might suggest that the perfectly fine DirecTV-radio is the best answer to a non-question.

Enough from here.  Hope the visit in NYC goes well for the sisters.  I'll be heading up to Harvest Path on Friday, so the wheels of the fam will definitely be rolling this week.

BCOT

Sunday

Welcome to Summer!

Really not a lot new in my world.  And not a lot of history worth repeating at this point. 

The rain today lasted a little longer than I had expected.  It has stopped for now, but the forecast on the iPhone is for more storms in the AM.  After getting soaked on the ride home this afternoon, that morning ride is looking iffy.

The golf tournament yesterday at Geneva was enough to keep me off the course for a few days.  27 holes is just not that much fun.  I found my mind wandering after about the third hole.  Actually, my back seems okay, considering the abuse.

The primary failing of the organizational approach to the event by the club was the all-day absence of a "beer cart girl".  This issue was exacerbated by the failure-to-show of the half-way house gal, meaning there was no ready access to adult beverages while on the course for the whole day.  The golf pro threw the club manager (who wasn't around) under the bus when we questioned him about the lack of these service points for the event.  Typical country club rationalization.  At any country club.  When it comes to responsibilities that might over-lap between the pro, the club manager, and the course superintendent, its always the other guy's fault.

The club actually employs several college girls in the dining room and grill during the Summer.  Heck, put a cute girl on the cart at a tournament like this, and she'd have a great day for tips.  (The girls that the resort courses employ tend to be just a little older, but they understand the program...guys on vacation...hangin' out with friends...glad to have a pretty face selling them those cheap $10 beers!  It ain't very complicated.)

We had an excellent evening at the MCSC last night as well.  Steaks.  Veggies.  Some good vino.  Almost perfect weather.  And best of all, no bugs!  (2 indicated that the vacation tees are going to be ordered this week.)

I took this shot with the minidigi on my ride this afternoon (before the rain!).  The road that we ride goes past Davenport Country Club.  Going by the club, you're maybe 100 feet above the Mississippi River, which is no more than, say, a half mile away.  I zoomed-in with his pic.  From the road, the "window" through the trees is a little more distinctive.  When I look through toward the dam, I always think about The Dirty Dozen or that Clint Eastwood  WW II flick, Where Eagles Dare, when a guerrilla military unit needs to bomb a heavily guarded enemy bridge, airfield or the like.

You think about a lot of disconnected things when the pounding on the pedals gets a little old.

Here is another shot from today's ride (again, before the rain!).  This pair was dining on a relatively recently deceased, slow squirrel.  And they weren't all that afraid of an old guy on a bike wandering into what I'm sure they considered as their space.  They let me go by after the pic.  And then they went back to their meal.

I have recently discovered a new worst parking lot situation, that almost claimed the BEATER on Friday afternoon.  It's another Hy Vee lot, this one on Spring Street near the office.  The primary driving lane at the front of the store does an angle move near the liquor store entrance where they allow parking on the store-side of the driving lane, and I have twice now underestimated the number of ways that other cars can get into your business.  I'm struggling to decide if the problem is in the parking lot design, or in the mind of the vehicle operator.  Whatever.  The new plan is to park at McDonald's and walk to the store to get the wine. (Maybe a slight exaggeration.)

All for tonight.  Hope it is a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Thursday

I thought that I might get this done on Wednesday, but my day got out of kilter with 1st Coffee with my pal Cal coming after the early ride, but before the shower and prep for the business day.  That's a rarity on a weekday.  Not that I couldn't get used to that routine.  Anyway, with Wednesday afternoon golf at Geneva on the schedule, the blog got shuffled to the bottom of the list. 

This may be 2's last day at Augie.  Not an insignificant milestone on her life-line.  She gets the title of Daughter of the Day for her choice to take a swim into deeper water.  You da' girl, Kiddo!

We're looking at Saturday being the official first day of Summer.  The down side is that that means the early sunlight now begins it's slow fade up the clock-face.  Having natural light at 0500 makes the early ride a whole lot more palatable.  By mid August, we'll be needing the head-lamps on the bikes if we take off before 0545.  Bummer. 

(Hmmm.  That may be presenting the wrong perspective.  Let's go with The Glad Game and appreciate that there's still several weeks of perfectly fine light for the early ride.  By September, I'll be ready for some non-biking fitness anyway.)

The College World Series (CWS) is going on this week in Omaha.  I haven't followed it much this year.  I saw one story where there's some concern that the effort to tone-down the aluminum bats in college ball (for player safety) may have been too successful.  The home run count is way down.  Small-ball has become the dominant game plan.  That may win more games right now, but lbh, girls love the long ball.

With so much other news in the sporting world right now (NBA Finals, Stanley Cup finals, US Golf Open, World Cup among other things), the CWS has been challenged to claim any headlines.  Is there even a new Erin Andrews on the scene in Omaha?  (Speaking of TBT.)

Today's Top Ten list: Where in the World was Lt.PC at this approximate time over the last 50 years?

1.  50 Years ago:  Iowa State Babe Ruth champions.  Our team went on to get smoked in the multi-state regional in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
2.  45 years ago:  US Air Force boot camp for 30 days at Charleston AFB, South Carolina.  Summer after junior year at ND.  Never been so hot in my life.
3.  40 years ago:  First of two Summers in grad school in Iowa City.  There were some good parties with my friends in Solon.
4.  35 years ago:  Our last year in C-town.  Lots of Cubs games.  Sports Corner is a fav hang-out.
5.  30 years ago:  My pal Bill joins me in my accounting/tax business. 
6.  25 years ago:  New building for the business in Davenport.  Shocking to me that it has been 25 years since we moved into this place.  ACL operation.
7.  20 years ago:  Now in the new house in Bettendorf.  We have begun our trips to Tahoe. 
8.  15 years ago:  I turn the Big 5-0.  January golf trip to Cabo for the first time.  We begin a series of years with two kids in college at the same time.
9.  10 years ago:  Now in the house on Maplecrest.  Half-marathons in Green Bay and QC.
10.  5 years ago.  2 and I do our first trip to Italy and France.

Yeah, I may be off a year or two with some of that.  But you get the drift.  They may be milestones, but maybe not all that interesting stuff to the Peanut Gallery.

Hope it is a good day in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Monday

Busy weekend here.  And we enjoyed the play-by-play of the fff in NYC.

I have been personally impressed with the hudzpah of the IRS now claiming that they "lost" the Lois Lerner emails that have been previously requested by the House Oversight Committee.  Truly a remarkable response.  Having spent a lifetime in representing clients in IRS audits, I can attest with authority that "the dog ate my homework" is not on the list of exceptions to providing detailed support for a deduction on a return.  The most transparent Administration evah!

Props again to my pal Pete.  He and pal Cal both gave the local sprint-triathlon a shot on Saturday morning.  600 yard swim.  15 mile bike ride.  3.1 mile run.  There were like 500-600 competitors.  Pete actually won his age group!  (I did look, and there were three in the 65+ age group.  And 1 in the 70+...who would have beaten Pete!)  Cal had a little trouble in the water, but managed to get'r done,,,and had no trouble with the bike or run legs. 

2 fell on the sword and represented herself and the sisters on Maplecrest for Father's Day.  Nice evening of steaks on the grill and Jordan in the bottle.  With some Whitey's strawberry ice cream as the dessert.  Thanks to her for that effort...and to each of you for the calls.

I watched parts of the Spurs' win last night.  Really an impressive result for a team that was considered too old to compete for the championship again after having lost last year.

High school basketball ends in February.  College that first weekend in April.  And the pros go for another two months.  No wonder nobody pays any attention to their games until the play-offs.  It would be impossible to sustain interest for their entire season.

The Iowa Gaming Commission approved another casino for the state last week.  For Jefferson, Iowa in north central Iowa, about 30-40 miles west of Ames.  I think that it will be the 19th casino in Iowa.  Iowa needs to go into re-hab to treat its sickness on gambling. 

Other things that my home state probably doesn't need:

1.  Two more days of the state fair.
2.  High-speed rail between Iowa City and anywhere.
3.  Expanded play-off fields for high school football.  Losing records get in as it stands.
4.  More ethanol subsidies.  Let's create false fuels!
5.  Red light/speeding cameras.  You guys!  Its a money grab!
6.  The early Presidential primary.  Really.  Give the populace a break.
7.  The Des Moines Register.  The newspaper that Iowa used to depend upon.  Long, long ago.
8.  Early Hawkeye/Cyclone football (and basketball!) games with Directional U.
9.  More bars in Iowa City.
10.  More attorneys.  (I just threw that one in there on principle.)

All for today.  The heat is on the next few days.  The A/C unit is up and running.

Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Friday

Let's get this out of the way early...yes, it is Friday the 13th.  Not sure if I believe in bad karma because of a date.  Looks like a beautiful day on our local weather map.  Margret is on the prowl.

1 and 1.1 are visiting the sisters in The Big Apple this
weekend.  This shot is from 1's Twitter feed last night.  A bit of fff in the big city. Enjoy!

Another lesson in rental car economics came unexpectedly to the fore when I went to reserve my Hertz car for the SF-Tahoe-Reno trip next month.  The estimated charge for the 10 day rental was in the area of $2,300!  If the return was to SFO, the ticket went down to my original expectations of somewhere in the $800 range.  And the website says that there is no charge for dropping off at a location different from the pick-up site.  You betcha!.  Plan B is still in process.

There's been a big travelling classic car show yesterday and today in Bettendorf.  Lots of people have asked if I was taking Margret in as a participant.  While Margret does present a nice appearance from across the parking lot, she's definitely not a show car.  She's a driver.

The US Open Golf tournament is being played this week at the Pinehurst #2 course in North Carolina.  The US Open course set-up is typically the most challenging that golfers face each year.  Par is always considered a good score.  Usually, the rough grass is allowed to grow to several inches and an errant shot means a hack-out to the fairway.  But this year, they've taken a slightly different route to humble the world's greatest golfers.

They've refurbished the Pinehurst course by bringing back the natural, coastal sand-scrub for the rough.  Much like a desert course, if you aren't in the fairway, you're in the junk.  Plus, the greens at Pinehurst are the dome-top variety that tend to have good approach shots roll off the green and require chip shots instead of first putts.  Some very good players shoot some high numbers.  My pal Ron and I might need a couple extra sleeves of balls to make it through eighteen at Pinehurst.

(Interestingly, the US Women's Open will be on the same course next week.)

Off topic...

One of the irritating left-leaning voices in the MSM (aren't they all?) is Chuck Todd who appears on various NBC networks.  Rarely failing to promote a progressive talking point, Todd has shown little shame in tsk-tsking those of us in the wasteland.  I recently picked up on a factoid from his history that goes some distance in explaining his bias.  Turns out that he was a staffer for our very own Iowa prairie populist, Tom Harken, in a 1992 campaign.  Apples.  Trees.

Here's an article that reports on the change in commencement speakers that occurred at ND this Spring.  I had read nothing about this in either the national press or alumni news releases.  http://ndsmcobserver.com/2014/05/notre-dame-seniors-react-change-commencement-speaker/  The originally scheduled speaker had to back out for health reasons (apparently).  The students quoted in the article suggested that the first speaker was an old, white guy past his prime, whereas the new guy was a Harvard-educated man of the people in the streets.  Hmmm.  Another Harvard community organizer brought in by Father Jenkins to speak to the graduates.  Let me get my checkbook.  Inspiration.

All for today.  Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Wednesday

Rainy day in the QCA.

I'm making @bcbison Pal of the Day.  His office staff through a little birthday party for him last night.  It was one of those "big" birthdays.   The specifically designed cake was a nice touch.  The cycling shot was taken on Saturday in Galena.  I had a two-man pic taken as we were leaving.  We've put in some solid miles together over the years.  Some of them on the bikes.

A Top Ten list of Pete and myself, sanitized for public consumption:

1.  Mt Rose bike climb, July 2012.   He glided up like a champ.  The Lt. had a death march.
2.  Decorah to Manchester on RAGBRAI, circa 2004.  Worst single day of cycling in my life.  Heat, hills, headwind.  Previous late night "preparations" not a help.
3.  Alamo Dome, San Antonio, Texas.   Midwest regionals.  Iowa State-UCLA.  1997.  Can't believe that that trip was that long ago!  My first visit to the River Walk.
4.  Des Moines in the mid '80's with our pal Jake.  The Waveland Tap was walking distance to Jake's condo.
5.  DeWitt Sunday morning breakfast rides.  2005 to current.  Americana on wheels.
6.  Augustana basketball.  2004-2010 when his boys were on the teams.   And some even now.  Even a few "away" games.  Very cool.
7.  Gov's deck in Bettendorf on Summer nights.  Still a treat.
8.  Lots of college and pro games.  Iowa City.  Ames.  KC.  Chicago.  Never a bad time.
9.  Joint client work for 30+ years.  I wouldn't be where I am without his referrals.
10. MCSC charter member.  Before there was a MCSC.

Moving on...

When 3 texted me this pic of her and Aunt Margaret last week, I responded with the selfie of me with Margret the car, saying that I was also with Aunt Margaret's namesake.  I thought later that my statement was slightly incomplete because I was actually with Aunt Margaret's and 3's namesake, give 3's middle name.

The attack ads on TV for the general election have already started.  Its depressing.  Kinda like Christmas ads in August.  There was one on last night against the Iowa Republican gal who has the nomination for the Senate.  The ad just took every left-of-center talking point and slimed the gal with generalities.  Her relative easy win last week must have struck an out-of-balance chord with the people who had anticipated an inevitable election of Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley to assume the Harken Chair.  Now we know what we have to look forward to over the next 5 months.  Yuck!

I'm silently rooting for the Spurs in the NBA finals.  I'm really not much of an NBA fan, but the Spurs don't seem to be made out of the typical me-first boosterism that permeates most NBA teams.  Winning against Lebron won't be easy. 

All for today.  What day is it, 3?

Make it a Good Wednesday in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Sunday

The new Home page pic is compliments of 2 from her visit to Sedona, Arizona last month.  I've never been there, but the scenery looks spectacular from the pics left on the mini-digi.

Today is a recovery day from yesterday's bike trip to Galena.  It was a high quality day.  85 miles.  No negatives with our group.  No mechanical problems, nothing in the way of injuries, and the weather/roads cooperated.  Pretty much a modest tail wind the entire trip.  Arrived as scheduled.  Post-race at the DeSoto House in Galena was a hoot.  Safe trip home with 2 at the helm of my pal Cal's SUV.

The crowning moments after the ride came when riding friend Tom from a past TOMRV showed up to share some stories.  Five years back, on a similar Saturday afternoon, I met Tom's group at the DeSoto House and we proceeded to exchange shots of Jagermeister to attest to our new friendships.  Little has changed.  He's to my left.  Great guy.  Sold his company for a truckload a couple years ago.  Now retired.  Ski bum.  World traveler.  2 and I are going to meet up with him and his wife later this month to catch up.  Totally cool.

This ride/day is one of my favorites of any year, so here's a Top Ten list for TOMRV 2014:

1.  The new bike was a worthy participant.  I had been concerned with the absence of a third crank "Granny Gear" on the front derailleur...but no worries.  Made it up the big hills as good as I had with the triple crank.
2.  Breakfast at the firehouse in Princeton has risen to $9.  Hmmm.  A little pricey, but it's a traditional stop.  Why not make life easy for your cashier and go to $10?  Maybe next year.
3.  The volunteers who man the sag-stop booths are a great group.  Most are retiree-aged men and women who may have been former riders.  A very positive group of people.
4.  TOMRV riders are generally inclusive, courteous and encouraging.  As one of the slow-pokes on the ride, I have a lot of people passing me throughout the day.  They almost all have a good word to me as they move on by.
5.  The ride t-shirt this year may never be worn.  Robin-egg blue.  Not the most masculine choice that could have been made.
6.  As not much of a beer-drinker these days, I will say that the Coors Light at the DeSoto House tasted as good as an adult beverage can.
7.  My award to the biker making the biggest "Watch me" statement goes to a young-ish gal, small in stature, who passed me riding a bike like this that you see in Winter conditions.  Huge, fat tires for snow (or maybe beach) travel.  Sounded like a truck going past me.  Can't imagine trying to get that thing up those big hills.
8.  We determined that the Gnat Factor went to 1000% at single-digit speeds.  Going up the steepest hills near Galena, at 5-6 MPH, produced gnats off the charts.  You couldn't open-mouth breathe without sucking a few in.  And you had to open-mouth breathe.
9.  The ambulance at the bottom of the steepest hill that we went down was a remainder of Rule #1 of Cycling.  You really can't be too careful out there.
10.  My decision several years ago to reduce my TOMRV to a one-day event to Galena has been a home run.  Plenty of miles.  Good party.  My own bed on Saturday night.

In other news...

The new Starbuck's with a drive-through opened across from its previous Duck Creek Mall location on Friday.  I stopped in briefly, and the place is a little bigger inside than I had been lead to believe.  Ingress-egress is no walk in the park, but neither was their prior store on the other side of Middle Road.  My pal's Roy and Ron will be fixtures there.  I'll be curious to see if the drive-through gets them more competitive, and whether Dunn's will feel any pinch.

Finally, I've been offering up a quote from Satchel Paige lately that I remember Daddy using at times; "Don't look back, they might be gaining on you".  I've been using the quote as a companion to the Tim McGraw song, "Live Like You Were Dyin'".  Both are reminders that there's no time to wait (or waste), nor others to wait for.

So make it a good week in your neighborhood.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Friday

Well, this week kinda got away from me. 

Let us first recognize the 70th anniversary of D-Day.  Thousands of US soldiers did not survive this invasion.  The survivors who joined today in the remembrance gathering on the shores of Omaha Beach are now in their late 70's and 80's. How surreal it must be for them to be standing on the sands that were covered with their fellow-soldiers blood that day in their youth.  I've never adopted Brokaw's terminology of "The Greatest Generation", but these men were special.  Here, here.

2 gets Daughter of the Day designation.  She is now committed to a move over to the University of Iowa beginning July 7th.  This pic is a shot from dinner one night last September in Sicily.  Her adventures continue.  Good luck, Kiddo!

In the "For What Its Worth" department, 2 has been a little worried about another career move less than two years since her last change over to Augie from the Figge.  Looking at my own history, going back to our move from C-town in 1980, when I would have been 31 years old, I left the company I joined in Davenport in August 1980 by the end of 1982 to start my own firm.  And the hits just keep on coming from that move.  And that was a move that included no certain revenue from my new venture...and two kids at home. 

We had a network-wide virus hit the office earlier this week.  Another one of those cases where someone must have opened an official-looking email that was in fact a worm.  We were lucky that we caught it when we did as the lost data was nominal.  It illustrates the challenge of all businesses going forward with their electronic files.  Hackers from all over the world are looking to find an entry to steal information and money.  Who needs guns or explosives if a keyboard works just as well?  Bruce Willis would have had a tough time making his classic shoot-'em-up character in those Die Hard movies as a programmer.  Not so much glamor.

The election results in Iowa on Tuesday produced a Republican woman candidate (Joni Ernst) for the US Senate seat now held by the retiring Tom Harkin, a prairie populist Democrat.  The general election could be interesting.  The anointed Democratic candidate is Bruce Braley, a 3-4 term Congressman from eastern Iowa.  Braley is essentially a Harkin clone.  There is a distinct left-right choice in this one.  Let the mud-slinging begin.

The bike ride tomorrow is going to be a challenge.  While I have logged in decent miles over the last couple of weeks, my totals are down from where they should be for this difficult of a ride.  We leave at 0630 from Maplecrest, and hope to be in Galena between 2 and 3 in the afternoon.

I really can't remember how many times that I've done this event.  Its been 5-6 times that I have now done only the Saturday portion to Galena (85 miles).  Its not a ride for the casual rider, so we'll see how my pal Cal does.  He'll be fine, but he hasn't done this long of a ride for maybe ever.  Look for tweets from the road.

Hope it is a good weekend in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Sunday

The new, in-focus Home Page pic was snapped with the Fuji mini-digi on this AM's DeWitt Ride.  This view is looking South from a small rise on Old Route 61 just South of DeWitt. Nothing special, but it is a typical view on a country ride.

June 1st?  Yeah, May was vapor.  We can officially say that next month is Tahoe!

That ride this morning was something less than perfect.  I could tell once I got out of town on the way up that there was a definite tailwind, but I didn't think it was all that strong.  Wrong.  So I made it to the Sunrise in about normal time, had a nice breakfast, and buckled-up for the return trip.  As soon as I hit the high ground outside DeWitt, the wind kicked-in and it was just a slow grind all the way home.  Nothing fun about a head wind.

I was thinking at one point during the ride about the relative insanity of me doing a 50-mile bike ride as a 65-year-old compared to Daddy as a 65-year-old.  He would have been 65 in 1975 when I was in grad school in Iowa City.  While he was still busy working the farm at that time, and was very active in that respect, it wasn't like he belonged to a fitness club (they didn't exist then!).  The thought of him getting on a bike on a Sunday morning and riding to Albia and back...more or less the equivalent of DeWitt for me...for the exercise of it...was on no radar screen.  Times change.

In addition to the uncomfortable heat that has been our recent weather pattern, we also have bugs.  Gnats.  And lots of 'em. I first noticed them in the parking lot at Geneva on Wednesday night.  They kept the MCSC inside on Friday night, and they were just thick on the golf course on Saturday morning.  On the bike, you're okay, mostly, while you're moving, but they can eat you up when you stop along the road for any reason. 

I don't think that I mentioned here that I picked up two new pairs of glasses a couple weeks back.  I used the Vision-4-Less store down the street from the office, including the in-store eye doctor.  I knew that my prescription had to be slightly adjusted, and I was down to my back-up pair...that was a back-up pair for a reason.  I have no complaints on services rendered, glasses acquired or the financial cost of same. 

I think I had a 2 PM appointment for the exam, and when I was done there, I went right over to the retail section and picked out the frames.  They said that they would call me later in the afternoon when they would be ready.  They did so, and I picked-them up on my way home for the day.  Really a no-hassle experience.  I should be good-to-go for another year or two.

I know we all have the daily task of making sure that our electronic equipment keeps charged.  We all are at wit's end if the phone dies, right?  Well, in addition to the phone, I have the iPad, of course, but also my golf watch and my rear tail light for my bike.  The watch only has to be recharged after a use on the course...which is not all that often, but the tail light is an everyday thing these days.  Its a juggling act for my cord array!  (And that doesn't consider the separate plug-in chargers for the two mini-digi's, or the nickle cadmium rechargeable AAA's for the big camera and the bike head-lamp.  It's a complicated life!)

The Giro d' Italia ended today and I basically recognized no names on the podium.  I guess I'm a child of the Doping Era.

Giving a shout-out to 4 for her participation in the control room today for Maria Bartiromo's Sunday show.  You are a star, Kiddo!

Busy week in my future.  I'll try to ride at least three days before Saturday.  Looks like we have 4-5 riders in our group.

Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT