Sunday

This first day of the time switch is always a bit of a challenge.  On the one hand, I like the ease that I have in getting up earlier without having to set an alarm.  On the other hand (sounds like a country song!), eating at the right times and getting the evening organized so that bedtime hits the right number take a few days to handle.  The march from now to the Winter solstice is, if you like daylight, one of the downsides of the "holiday" season.  Maybe that's why they decided to have Winter holidays.

(Just witnessed a real brawl at the end of the NASCAR race!  The 24 was in the middle of it.  One of the idiot young drivers banged into him at the end of the race and ruined what looked to be a good day (even if he couldn't win it).)

Big day in the Big Apple.  Not sure if I have the determination to fight that crowd if 1 were to go there.  A friend from Chicago did just that to watch his daughter today.  My biggest concern would be my lack of local knowledge...and the mass of runners.  I'll worry about that when the day comes.  I'm focusing on January in Phoenix for now. The lay of that land doesn't scare me.

The local bike club had their annual dinner last night which I elected to attend at kind of the last minute.  In the more recent past, they have brought in some notable cycling personalities for these dinners, advertised the event with emails and fliers, and attracted 250 people or so.  I had received zero information about last night's dinner, and the program was a young sales gal from Trek Cycling Tours.  There might have been 100 people in the room.  Curious.

Like everyone else, I've had it up to my eyeballs with the politics.  Interesting that everyone says the same thing.  The candidates, the lobbying organizations, the media, and the public.  What seems most amazing to me is that all sides seems to think that if their respective positions are not agreed to, the opponents not agreeing with them are extreme thinkers not good for that state.  Really?

I know that I have said it in the space previously, but the Thursday afternoon CPE (continuing professional education) seminar hosted locally by the Iowa CPA Society reinforced the position that, if I were a 30-year-old just beginning my career, I'd be making a career change.  The future of enforcement for the Affordable(!) Care Act falling to the tax preparers is a prospect that I wouldn't be able to reconcile.  Its going to get messy.  And expensive.  Maybe I would have made the complete switch over to the securities business...which might have been a good choice.  Whatever.  I feel a little sorry for new CPA's who will spend years figuring out and then complying with the labyrinths of the health care laws/regulations.

Crust last Wednesday was a Jordan night.  Not only is the 2010 vintage a very nice bottle (and affordable at half-price night!), but it gives me good vibrations from our 2013 visit to Sonoma...and the Jordan Winery. (I'm thinking 1 deserves a little recognition here since I think we drank at Jordan on her dime.)

2 has come up with the idea that the second half of the proposed Europe trip next September be in Bordeaux, France.  It could work.  4-5 days in Barcelona.  A train ride to Bordeaux.  Then 4-5 days in wine country.  It has an appeal, eh?  At least a small fff possible, yes?  There's not much TdF cycling in the Bordeaux region...no big hills...but they visit there every couple of years for the sprinters.

All right.  All for today.  Hope the Peanut Gallery has a good week.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT