Friday/Saturday

Started this yesterday afternoon, but couldn't get it done...

Just a little checking-in for a Friday afternoon.  I'm pretty sure that this has been the least productive day I have had since the return from Tahoe.

My latest experience with the iPhone has been a discussion with a Verizon tech support person who walked me through some paces to discover a "Do Not Disturb" function that had been activated.  Hmmm.  I suppose that one of the drops could have jarred the system.  And she also advised to install the latest update which I had been avoiding.  OK.  So we'll see if the fix actually works.  Missing incoming calls had become aggravating.  (It seems to have been the fix.)

ND made some headlines today for another academic fraud situation involving at least four football players.  I have no sympathy for these idiots.  How difficult can it be?  Is the culture on college campuses so twisted that athletes think they are immune to simple rules?  My 25-year streak of not attending an Irish game is safe.

Now Saturday afternoon...

I restocked the MCSC wine stores last night with a case from the 53rd Street Hy Vee.  I elected to go with a modest-priced selection...and the first couple of bottles were very so-so.  The first was a Spanish Rioja that I chose with an eye to some reasonable experiences that 4 and I had in Vitoria-Gastiez.  After one glass, I elected to send the remainder home with 2 who had stopped in for a Friday evening libation.  The second bottle was a Napa Cabernet (2010) that must have not sold elsewhere.  Meh.

My new wine inventory plan is to make it over to the local Total Wine store when I visit Harvest Path in two weeks.  They will definitely have more wine to choose from...and likely more from the older vintages.  Lots of 2012 on the shelves at Hy Vee these days.  And the same old names.  I got spoiled in SF and Tahoe.

Its been the Iowa State Fair this week in Des Moines.  Can't say that  they have anything to offer that would get me to attend.  The Buttered Cow?  Not so much.  Some political debates?  Right.  Florida Georgia Line on the grandstand?  Sure.  But I am absolutely ok with it being one of the annual big events for Iowans.  Lots of 4-H kids, FFA members and families see the fair as the feature time of the Summer.  We're a farm state.  Let the fair be the fair.

The Ice Bucket Challenge has to be on its last legs.  I hope all of the people who have made it a bigger deal than maybe it should be, write the check.  I did.

The 24 team continues to bring a fast car to the track.  A faulty battery took them out of the race last week, but he's on the pole for tomorrow's race at Michigan.  Different paint-scheme this week.  One of the sponsor's subsidiaries that makes automotive finishes.  Not a fav look.  (Jeff is the poster-boy on the August page of my current basement bathroom NASCAR calendar.  It notes that his birthday is August 4th.  I was disturbed to learn through MSM coverage of the White House last week that the POTHUS shares the same birth date.)

Party tonight at my pal Ron's house.

Hope it is a good weekend in your neighborhood.

BCOT