Sunday

Looks like we have a pretty good day here in the QCA.  Rain, heat and humidity yesterday.  We'll see if the Lt. can suck it up and get in a few miles this afternoon.

I'm giving Daughter (and Son-in-Law) of the Day to 3 and 3.1 for the good show last night over by Iowa City.  3 was one of the attendants and 3.1 was the officiant.  (Hello, RevKev!)  The setting was outside at a winery between IC and Cedar Rapids.  The weather was threatening during the ceremony, but other than a few rumbles of thunder and some distant lightening, the proceedings were completed before the rain came in. 

The reception was inside in a building that had multiple garage-style doors on both sides that could create an open-air environment in the right weather.  For last night, the doors remained closed and the A/C made for a very comfortable gathering place.  I'm guessing that the owners of the winery built the building expressly for these types of functions.  With all the university students in the area, there has to be a big demand for wedding reception facilities.  The business of weddings is a BIG business.

The wedding did give me a chance to re-connect with my pal Patrick.  He and I spent quite a bit of time together two years ago at the Tahoe wedding.  We took this selfie last night as the evening was coming to a close.  He's headed to the Land of Large Insects (aka Wisconsin) for a week of Boy Scouts Jamboree camping with his son Sam.  Hmmm.  I'll take the Grand Central Westin, fo' sure.

Not that the red wine at the reception was all that bad, but generally, I prefer the vintage year to be printed on the bottle.  I actually queried the gal serving the wine and she admitted working there for a couple of years, but
she wasn't able to give me an answer with certainty on my observation.

As I reported on my Twitter feed, I played golf down at Geneva on Friday with my pal Ron and two other friends.  It had been almost three weeks since my last round, and my game was something less than inspiring.  But there was a beer cart girl out this time, so all was not lost!  And we needed the diversion as we got caught behind two slow-playing groups and we had to wait on every tee and for every second shot.  Bummer.  As 4 would say, #bloodymary!

But the big story for me was the impact on the course from the storms earlier in the week.  Several places along the creek that bisects the course were either still very wet, or had sand/dirt eroded in (or out) of those low spots on the course.  And the bridges across the creek showed evidence that water was well over the decks, and in a couple of cases, rails on the bridges were damaged.  They had closed the course for 2 and a half days to clean things up.  No wonder all of the local rivers have been out of their banks.

In another example of poor customer service, I took Margret in to the local Ford dealer (where she's been before) Friday morning before heading to the course.  Regular service work, and a guy had said he thought my break lights were on the fritz.  (Sorry to all those Fritz's out there for that racist comment.)  Anyway, the guy checking her in was like a moron.  As though it was a complicated task.  I assured him that I didn't need the car that day (although when I made the appointment, the gal assured me that the work would be done on Friday). And then, even though it had started to sprinkle as I was leaving the shop, no one inquired about a possible need for a ride. 

I actually stopped over at the dealership Saturday morning when I headed out on my bike ride.  The service desk greeter confirmed that they hadn't even started on the car.  And I still haven't received a phone call providing a status report.  And these are the same people who call three days after you pick up your car to see if they can set-up the next service appointment.  Somebody needs a do-over on their customer service training.

Survey.  Does anyone in the Normal World care that Lebron is returning to Cleveland?

I'm going to try to get three entries posted this week.  Not sure why I haven't been able to add to this tome in recent weeks.  Travel, MCSC and knowing that lots of the fam have been on the road with much more exciting tales to tell on their own than those related here have all led to the dearth of my creative enterprise.  I can do better.

Hope its a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT