Tuesday PM

Ellen Goodman wrote an op-ed piece the other day lamenting the new reality of disabled athletes. I did a little checking on-line and there is actually a bit of a debate out there as a result of a double-amputee runner who has recorded some startling times with the aid of high-tech, carbon fiber leg prostheses called "cheetahs". Some folks are suggesting that the amputee with these prostheses may actually have an advantage over able-bodied runners. But that's a whole different story well beyond my level of interest.

Back to Goodman. I read her occasionally. She's not what I would call off-the-wall, Michael Moore leftish, but she tends toward a blue ideology. Hey, she's from Boston! Anyway, in this recent column about technology making the disabled something less than the traditionally disabled, she also brought into the discussion Tiger Woods' laser eye surgery, and (the horror of it!), the possible cosmetic enhancements of our beauty pageant contestants. I wonder if she is too close to home for the late night crews to get Top Ten lists going for this new view of True to Nature?

Here's a go at my Top Ten of Goodman's Guidelines:

1. Good-bye orthodontics. And to the wealthy orthodontists.
2. Good-bye Clairol and Grecian Formula. Hello Gray!
3. My titanium road bike with index, finger-tip shifting. Gone.
4. Bottled spring water at $1.79 a pop. See 'ya. (I agree with her here.)
5. Laser-mounted pictures in the living room. Fagetaboutit.
6. $150 running shoes. Not. (Again, I agree.)
7. Honey, where's the beta-max?
8. Blackberries, Ipods, HD LQ screen TV's. All gone.
9. Plastic surgeons. Back to Family Practice. Ouch.
10. Gee, (insert name), you sure look good in that white t-shirt and gym shorts.

Some of that's a little harsh, but when you start equating steroids and EPO/HGH in athletes to laser eye surgery and breast implants it's hard to find a base line.

Hope everyone has a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday AM

Just didn't get to this yesterday.

I think that the Criterium was a success. The rain stayed away all day. The crowds were not huge, but the event was well-attended and the races went along as scheduled with no major snafu's.

Another busy week here. The official start of Summer.

More later. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

The sun has returned.

I did 20+ in the rain yesterday afternoon. I just couldn't justify sitting inside all day, so in one of the interludes from the showers, I took off knowing that I would get wet. It wasn't that bad. My goal today is 25+.

There was an obituary in the national press this week for Jerry Falwell, founder of a Christian fundamentalist college in Virginia in the '70's, now called Liberty University. He was perhaps best known for his leadership of an essentially political group described as the Moral Majority. I always thought he was a bit of a nut, but conservatives tended to cater to this bloc of voters because of their perceived ability to deliver at the polls. Their pro-life, pro-prayer and general bible-toting beliefs helped create the liberal/conservative wedge that still exists in today's political environment. Conservatives have to deal with the likes of Falwell and Newt Gingrich. Liberals are burdened with Rosie O'Donnell and Ted Kennedy. Who wins there?

And now, another off-the-wall item. I stopped at the Kimberly Road SB's this AM. I was sitting on one end of a three-person couch with a coffee table in front. I had been through most of my paper and had placed part of it beside me and part of it on the coffee table. An older gentleman came over, and without comment or greeting, sat on the other end of the couch, and proceeded to pick up the parts of the paper that were beside me. In my world, that was a breech of two protocols; first, you don't sit down on a possibly-shared sofa without first asking if anyone else is sitting there; and second, you certainly don't pick up from a paper pile in front of or next to someone who is obviously reading from the same paper.

A tertiary element of this little morality play is the question of, "Who's being cheap in this situation?" The guy who wants to sponge another person's paper, or the guy who is not all that anxious to share the fishwrap (that he will be leaving on the coffee table when he leaves anyway)? This is slightly different than a similar scenario at the Hy Vee deli where coffee costs a quarter. There, the guy snarffing another's paper is definitely cheap. Then again, at the new Hy Vee, the price of coffee probably doubled. And the snarffer has seen his economic equation go south.

(That Hy Vee example really goes out the window next month when a SB counter opens up inside the grocery store. The dynamics of Hy Vee coffee versus SB's coffee will really complicate this analysis.)

The conclusion to this little episode was anticlimatic. I consciously chose not to say anything to the guy because I think it is equally small of people to make an issue of such an insignificant transgression. But when I see the guy come in again, I'm picking up all of my paper and stuffing it in the cushion on my other side and forcing him to scavenger elsewhere for his reading material. And when I leave, I'm dumping it on a table across the room next to some other paper-hungry souls.

Blogger spellcheck has a problem with "snarffer". We'll just call it a family colloquialism.

Big day for Indy and NASCAR. A racing fanatic could watch left turns for 7-8 hours. I'll pass. Indy has made itself insignificant and the NASCAR race is 600 miles of tedium.

So y'all have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

The holiday weekend is underway...in the rain.

Talked again with 4 yesterday. The saga with the luggage continues. Afterwards, Mom got on the phone with the airlines with some, but not all that much, success. They at least recognize that there is a problem.

They had an outdoor movie at Vanderveer Park in Davenport last night. The paper said that about 5,000 showed up. Great idea for a family event to start the holiday weekend, but naturally, the rain came and they had to shut down midway through the flick.

1 is in DM today for her friend Sarah's medical school graduation. Congrats to the new Dr. H.!

Lots of doping news in the cycling world these days. It was a front page story in today's NYT. Basically, guys admitting they took EPO and other stuff in the '90's. Even a TdF winner. This, and the Landis circus, makes the whole world of cycling a cesspool.

I heard an interesting interview on the radio this week that suggested that the strongest anti-doping policies were in soccer. There, you can't even take an antihistamine and pass a test. I guess there will always be cheats. I just wish that they could get to a uniform, total and unflawed testing protocol that would disclose the users. Ban them for life. These two year sanctions aren't getting it done.

One of 4's high school friends is on the softball roster of Northwestern which is a highly ranked team in the DI playoffs. She's used mostly as a pinch runner. They should be in the College World Series next week in Oklahoma City.

For those who may not have the link, 4's blog is www.trackingkch.blogspot.com. She is writing most weekdays, but does not have a computer on the weekends and will have to figure out whether there is a cheap internet cafe or other access for those days.

Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday AM

Since I typically don't do so well making entries on Friday afternoon, I thought I would lay one down this morning to break the routine. Not that I am that creative at this hour.

4 may be taking over as the required "read of the day". I mean, do events of an old man in the Quackers, or the ruminations of a college girl on tour in Europe have more basic appeal?

The three day weekend is getting off to a good start. Good weather for today, and I fired up Margret for my ride for the day. A front went through last night and cooled things down, and calmed the wind. We are still dry, but that keeps the grass under control. I'm having to water my outdoor plants as well as my tomatoes. I'm sure that the farmers are griping about the need for rain.

Happy Birthday to 1! She is Daughter of the Day.

There has been a shake-up in our local minor league hockey team. The previous team, the Mallards, were the equivalent of an "A" level franchise. Their average attendance had slipped from a high in the mid-8000's when they were a novelty and really good, to the mid-3000's in the most recent season. So for whatever reason, the power-that-be, whoever they are, elected to locate the "AAA" franchise of the Calgary Flames here for next season. Huh? I suppose that the theory is that better hockey will bring out more fans, even at the higher ticket prices. I'm taking the under on that bet.

Today starts the weekend of cycling in Eastern Iowa/Quad Cites. There is a road race from Wapello down to Burlington this evening. Then the racers have closed-course races tomorrow in Burlington, Sunday in Muscatine, and Monday in Rock Island. Closed-course races are called criteriums. Hope the weather holds.

For those interested in history, check out Memorial Day on Wikipedia. It was not until the late '60's that this U.S. holiday was moved from it's May 30th day to the last Monday in May. The rationale was to make a more people-friendly three day weekend to start the Summer. Now, I think that commerce rules and it's all about the money.

So everyone go out there and have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

I did talk with 4 today. On my phone plan, the charge is $.50 per minute. It would be the same for 3 too.

I'm still in a little recovery from the golf outing. I'll write more tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Just a few lines this evening.

I just got back from a golf outing in Burlington with my pal Roy and a couple of other acquaintances. I'm beat. It was a nice, but very difficult wooded course with gnarly rough, that I had never played. Lots of prairie grass areas that ate balls. And windy! It took me the whole front nine before I figured out how to keep the ball in play. My back is sore, but it's been worse.

It's great to have 4 adding material each day. You go girl! And nice that 1 has rejoined our literary party.

I'll add more in the AM. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Interesting how the "VT" symbol for Virginia Tech made it on to the uniforms, cars, or other stuff of various athletes in the aftermath of the tragic shootings on that college's campus. We are a nation of sympathizers, but we also have short memories. I guess that it is good to show support for whatever might be the current cause celeb. In the end, our empathy for the parents of those students, or for the owners of the euthanized horse Barbaro, may show one's humanity, but it does little to change bad results or the course of future events.

Theoretically, citizens can raise their voices and usher in change at the ballot boxes. But it generally takes a ground-swell of dissatisfied voters to say, "enough". Or an extended period of collective misfortune that demands blame. Can societal systems secure us from the nutcase? At what price? The ACLU vs. the Department of Homeland Security. The combination of technology and science will make lots of things possible, but where will the lawyers draw the line?

The CSI crime shows illustrate how much were are being watched even today. (I saw a new set of cameras in Bettendorf this AM high atop the traffic signals at Middle and 18th. Just watching.) But just like at VT, who's at fault when a variance is detected? The perpetrator, or the watcher who does not react "properly"? The psychologist who did the interview, or the supervisor who signed off on the "no-action" memo? The chain of responsibility has many links. No wonder the line of applicants for the position of Walmart Greeter is so long.

The NBA draft lottery is tonight. This is the event where they draw straws (balls actually) to see who gets the first pick in the upcoming draft. That pick will most certainly be either Greg Oden of Ohio State or Kevin Durant of Texas, both very gifted players who, absent the new rule that required a minimum of one year of college, would have gone to the NBA out of high school a year ago. While it is unlikely that either of these players will lead a team to a title next year, getting such a talent in the draft can translate into the beginning of a run of many good years into the future. Surprisingly, some consistently bad teams have be able to mess up their drafts year after year.

All for today. I'm off to the practice green at Palmer Hills to chip and putt.

Have a great evening. Buenos noches/dias to 4.

Be careful out there,

Monday

Glad to see 4 adding to her blog. Sounds like she has limited access, so we may not see entries on a daily basis. Still no luggage, but they talk like it has been located.

They did a feature on the QC Criterium this AM, on tape, for Paula Sands Live. Paul Sands handling the interview. There were several of us standing around, but she was basically just interested in the bike props, including the one guy in uniform. So I didn't stay around to get my 10 seconds of fame.

Former Iowa State basketball player Paul Shirley has parlayed his blogging skills into a book deal. He has gained some note on the ESPN site for the wit in his blog, and I think that it has been picked up by different media outlets as a human interest side to professional bball.

We could get into the debate about athletes from which sport present the best-educated image, but there might not be much opposition to the swimmers, polo riders, and fencers. Then again, when it comes to bad teen movies, the preppies have most of that parody to themselves as well.

Speaking of bias, I can say that on the bike path, it is the Yuppie professionals who far and away best control their kids. They generally keep cover on their charges like a mother duck. This in contrast to all other groups who can't seem to figure out that there might be other people who need their children to ride (and walk) right.

Yuppie singles or couples with no kids in tow do not have the same attentiveness or care when it comes to their dogs. Their animals are frequently unleashed and/or allowed a wide range. Interesting how, where and when the Mothering instinct takes hold.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Just checking in. Several items of good news.

4 made it to her destination, albeit without her checked bag. And without having much sleep in her 24 hour odyssey, she was able to convert to the local time that first night. Hopefully, they will be able to track down her bag. She was supposed to meet her host family today. She says that she'll try to blog on Monday.

1 and Matt successfully completed their Green Bay half this AM in under two hours! Great job. Congratulations.

The rest of us made it through another day.

Lots of graduations in the last couple of weeks. Such events make memories for lots of people. The graduates themselves. Their families. Close friends. How about a top ten list of the significant days of an Everyman's (Everywoman's) life:

1. High school graduation.
2. College graduation.
3. Wedding day.
4. Kid's births.
5. First day on first "real" job.
6. Purchase of first house.
7. Early death of a parent, sibling or close friend.
8. First "new" car. (Maybe, first car, too.)
9. First air plane ride.
10. First trip abroad.

And just for yucks, a second 10 which have to occur after age, say, 40:

1. A child's college graduation.
2. Sale of the last "family" car.
3. Divorce.
4. Career/job change.
5. Selling a house/moving.
6. Death of the parents.
7. Cubs winning a World Series. (Just seeing if you're reading!)
8. Diagnosis of a significant medical condition.
9. Experiencing a natural disaster (flood, tornado, fire, etc.)
10. Retirement.

These are kind of interesting thoughts. I've come to believe or appreciate that a person makes little decisions each day, and over a long period of time, those little decisions create a path for one's life. Some of the decision points are chosen. Others occur. I've never been smart enough to play my life like a chess match where you make each move in anticipation of moves further into the game. Much of the time, I think I was oblivious to the fact that I was even at a fork in the road. As I look back in time, I would never have guessed that I would be exactly where I am today.

Too maudlin for a Sunday.

Back to Everyman. Wikipedia doesn't even capitalize the term. If not capitalized, how do you know that you are talking about a person as opposed to a crowd? Anyway, there was some morality play called Everyman, but I have not read it and I know nothing about it. But I have often used the term to describe that indistinct person walking down the street. He is no one in particular, but he is also each of us.

My pal Pete has a lawyer friend Jim from Creighton law school whose nickname is "Orp". Actually, Orp was undergrad at ND when I was there, although I did not know him. Anyway, the nickname comes from some law school 101 class where they describe the action and/or thought process of an "ordinary, reasonable, and prudent" man. Ergo; Orp.

Another great day here. I'm out to enjoy it.

Be careful out there.

Friday

Happy 25th to 2!! She is Daughter of the Day.

We are all anxious to to hear that 4 has made it to her destination in Spain. We know that the airline lost her luggage in Madrid, and that she missed her flight to Seville. She had kept some clothes in her backpack for just this reason, but it is disconcerting nonetheless. It is hard on Mom and Dad when a child is in trouble six or seven time zones away from home.

My pal Pete and I did a 15+ mile bike ride this morning at 5:30. Ouch! I never do early workouts and I can't say that I enjoyed this one, but it certainly frees up your day. It was cold this AM, maybe a degree or two below 40. I wore early-Spring attire; tights, dri-fit long-sleeved shirt, wind-shell, and full-fingered gloves. And I still got cold in the extremities. Not much traffic on the bike path at that hour.

Beautiful day here today. Margret made her first appearance of the year at the office.

I just got very lucky. I was checking my Criterium email account and opened an item which had a separate web address that I also opened. When I determined that that site was extraneous and hit the close box, I got the prompt, "Do you want to close both pages?" Which I answered, "Yes", and the system proceeded to close Blogger as well. On that previous blog site where I had the problems, my entry would definitely have been vaporized. But when I logged back into Blogger, I had a "draft" for this entry. An automatic feature of Blogger. Good deal for me.

In another example of Dad making it into the Technology Age, I used my cell phone as an alarm for the first time this morning. It was simple to set, and worked like a charm (actually, like an alarm). Not that I needed it, as I was awake at five bells. But it was my back-up plan, just in case. You always need a back-up plan.

How high can gas go?

Our neighborhood Hy Vee Food Store opened their new building this week. I'm a bit negatively curious as to whether they will be able to maintain their customer-friendly atmosphere in the new digs. The company opened a totally new facility in another section of Bettendorf a little over a year ago, and I have never felt as good about my shopping experience at that store. They hire more people to staff a bigger store, and those new employees do not have the history of the former operation. We'll see. The parking lot is a challenge, and will be until they tear down the old building and create more space.

Good luck to 1 and Matt for their half in Green Bay.

Big weekend in C-town. Cubs-Sox series at Wrigley. Won't be any parties in that area tonight or tomorrow. Right. 3 is in town looking for apartments. No big news at the Giro, but the Landis doping arbitration hearing in California is a circus. And the left-turn crowd is in Charlotte for their All-Star event. No points on the line, but $1 million to the winner of the race.

So I'm off to have a celebratory libation with 2. Thinking of 4.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Busy times. Today is 4's departure for Spain.

FFF on Century Heights Avenue last night. Brats. Steak.

2's tax birthday today.

Maybe things will settle down for me so that I can get a good entry in here tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

No blog today. Business dinner.

Monday

The weekend was successful in all respects. Again, congrats to 3 on completing her under graduate program on time and pretty well on budget. Mom and Dad are proud of you!

1 did a nice job running 11 miles in the Distance Classic half marathon in Rock Island yesterday. She needed to get in 10 for her preparation in next weekend's Green Bay half and the race was a convenient route. Plus Dad forked over the $$'s for the souvenir shirt. I also wanted to show support for our newest staff person who was running her first (and last) half as well. Jess did a nice job with a finishing time of just over two hours.

One thing I did notice yesterday was that there were few runners who stopped and walked parts of the way. Heck, when I run two miles, I have to stop several times! So it must have been a pretty competitive field. As expected, our Cousin Fran won the +70 age group.

This was a shorts day for me at the office. The forecast was for 92 this afternoon, and I think we got there. I can beg off that I was dressed for a charity golf outing since there is such an event almost every Monday in the QCA. My Summer dress code is "shorts" most days.

My pal Roy has again invited me to be his "guest" at the local country club's Member/Guest event next month. This is the club that I am an "investor" in since they have refused to return my $7500 equity since my resignation six or seven years ago. They have offered to pay off former members at $0.50 on the dollar, generous souls that they are. Anyway, the Member/Guest event is a fun deal for two days and three nights. Now, I have to get my back in shape so that I neither hurt nor embarrass myself.

4 is on a short time line for her departure to Espana on Thursday. I hadn't really looked at a calendar to realize that she would be leaving so soon. After Thursday, we'll next see her in St. Paul for 1's wedding.

The Giro d'Italia started last weekend. The first three stages are on the Island of Sardinia this year. They fly over to the mainland after today's stage, and head North. VeloNews has an Internet update throughout each day similar to what they do for the Tour. The protagonists this year are some of the same riders from last year, absent Basso who has been suspended for doping. Discovery's team has a couple of strong riders, but I don't think that they seriously believe that they can win a podium position. The Italians on several teams consider this race much more important than any other.

The 24 stole the Darlington race yesterday with a car overheating so bad that it was spitting steam over the last 25 laps.

I'm headed out for a short ride and a little BBQ with 3 and 4. Y'all have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Graduation day for 3. Yea! Hancher. The first of the girls not to graduate in a football stadium. 2 does point out that her college ceremony was in an auditorium although the university ceremony was in the stadium the night before. The businesswoman speaker today actually gave a speech that was a lot more relavent to the graduates than the political statement given by John McCain at 2's university convocation.

We did the U-Haul thing and got 3 and 4 moved. 1 and 2 helped 4. Mom and James and I helped 3. Din-din later.

My pal Pete and I did a 20 miler last night and ended with a couple of adult barley beverages at Gov's. The part of the ride heading North was a bear against the wind.

More tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

I hadn't planned on writing today, but I had to recognize the big NASCAR news of today: at the end of the season, Dale Jr. is leaving his team, DEI (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.), a team his legendary father formed, and which is owned by his step-mother Teresa. As one writer put it, this is the equivalent of the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

The skeptic in me thinks that the end of the season is a long way away, and a compromise could be reached if Teresa has any sense at all. It's not about money. Jr. wants to win races and DEI hasn't been as good as at least three other teams, each with three or four cars always running up front. In the left-turning world, getting to the checkers is a lot more important than the paycheck. Teresa will be left with the memorabilia sales for Dale Sr., but that market pales in comparison to the numbers Jr. can bring to the table.

It has been almost hot today. 80+. Golick's brats for lunch.

That securities continuing education course this morning was a pain in the keister. It was presented in mostly a video format that had you indicating acceptable responses to various factual situations. (Should appearance on a securities training video be added to an actor's resume?) Hypothetical client requests. Required disclosures. And with a little more technical multiple guess orientation than I had anticipated. If you answered too many questions in a section incorrectly, the program ran you through an alternative set of questions to make sure you got the point. No crosswords allowed.

Busy weekend ahead. Hope everyone is ready to celebrate. Biaggi's at 7:30.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday PM

I am headed out for another ride. Not too windy, and pleasant. I may even drag Margret out for a spin.

I have to sit through a three hour securities session in the AM for continuing education. This is a deal that's presented through the old Sylvan Learning Centers, now called Prometric or something to that effect, and is an inter-active deal on the computer. There is no pass/fail grading, but you have to complete the session in the allotted time or they yank your license. Hello? It may be difficult to complete the crossword in such an environment.

Sorry to hear that we'll have no family participants in the half on Sunday. Maybe another time.

One of the loose ends at my house is a small item related to my real estate taxes. Iowa grants a small concession on your bill if you are a veteran. But you have to effectively "certify" that you have an honorable discharge, and of course, this being the government on both sides, there's a specific form that they want. DD-214. I know that I have it. Somewhere. But there are a lot of boxes from my various moves over the years. Maybe an evening project soon. As it is, filing the request now only does something for me beginning a year from now, for taxes payable even later.

So all for today. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday AM

I ended up leaving a little early yesterday to get in a ride before the evening rush, so I was a no-show for the blog.

Decent ride on the path. Not that bad of traffic. I did see my 70+ year old cousin/runner who happened to be taking a break as I rode by, so I stopped and chatted him up a bit. He had over-done it just a little in the 80+ temperature, but was ok. He'll be doing the half on Sunday. I think that he's been retired for over 10 years and running is now his life. Replaced hip and all.

Looks like a good day here. I may try to get out again to ride.

As I left for work around 6:15 this AM, I spied three rabbits in my neighbor's relatively small garden. And the only things to munch on this time of year are fading tulips! Last year, they had to put up a four foot tall fence to keep the critters out. Me thinks that the phrase, "Multiplying like rabbits", may be applicable. I hope that they don't like tomatoes.

3 needs to give us a little "countdown to graduation" biop of sorts. I doubt if classes are an issue on time allocation for her at this point.

I have two other geographically close neighbors putting in new fences this week. One diagonally off my back yard, and the other directly across the street. I think the backyard people have dogs that they want to run, while the new people across the street have young children. I've never been a big fan of fences, but like fences, there are two sides to every story. There's a tendency for fences to more isolate neighbors, particularly when soloists like me do not have the natural attractions of children or pets. At the end of the day, certainly in an Internet-driven society, when there is no other connectivity other than proximity, neighbors can be worlds apart.

More later. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Always good to hear from the maddening crowd.

I understand that the U-Haul has been reserved for our after-graduation party. This may be the first two-fer of moving college kids on the same day in my history.

Basso fell on his sword in Rome today. My guess is that it involves a deal that gets him back in the peloton next year. I wonder how many others will have to face the music.

Clemons signs with the Yankees for something like $150,000 a day for the rest of the year. My bet is that his wins will cost $1.5 million each. Break that down to number of pitches in those wins, and we're talking about $15K per pitch. If we reduce it to outs, assuming he goes 6 and 2/3's per game, or twenty outs, and you're at $75K per out. Those numbers inspire me as I complete another $250 tax return.

I was glad to hear that they announced that TV show "Lost" would end in 2010. Any bets that it won't make it that far? I bet someone in Vegas will put some odds out there.

I think we are at, or near, Uncle Phil's birthday. He's an old guy. (My recollection of exact dates for birthdays and anniversaries is awful. Keep that in mind as my Alzheimer's progresses.)

There was an article in the Weekend Wall Street Journal written by a young Dad complaining about the over-scheduling of his pre-teens' games and such. I agree that kids can get into more things than seem necessary, but the alternatives in today's techno world are the Internet and HDTV. A heavy schedule of ball games and fresh air seems ok to me. As long as the parents let the kids play the games. And the travel is not out of control.

I remember my first Little League "away" game in What Cheer. And then there was the Babe Ruth game for Phil's team that I was the bat boy for, playing in the metropolis of Cedar, the rains come, the teams scatter to the cars, everyone heads for home, and they leave the poor little bat boy in the dugout!

Off to the homestead. Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Just a few lines today to check in.

It has been a good weekend, but no major highlights. I played golf with my pal Roy on Saturday, and my back reminded me why I do not play regularly. I suppose that if I did some stretching and strengthening exercises specifically for the muscles that are affected by "the turn" when you swing a golf club that I could play with less pain, but I don't, and I pay when I do play.

I was back on the bike today, and went down for the first time in a while. It was on the bike path at a Davenport street crossing where the street pavement had settled over the Winter a couple inches below the level of the path at the street's edge. That's not a problem when you are riding in the direction where you just drop down a little, but when you are riding into it, you can blow a tire or worse. I tried to lift the front wheel of my bike when I saw the variance, but I lost a little balance and then went down sideways. I wasn't going that fast and my only injury was a little road rash on one finger and my right knee. But the incident is an example of Rule One of cycling: If you ride, you will eventually crash.

My ride was for 20 miles which means that by the weekend I should be ok for the open road. Traffic on the bike path just makes me nervous. Kids, dogs, families and other users require a lot of defensive riding. At least on the road you know that most cars are going to try to avoid hitting you. Most cars.

My writer friend from SB's gave me a signed copy of his book this AM. Very cool. He had been in Indianapolis yesterday to help friends time a half marathon that had 40,000+ runners. I don't know if those numbers were all half runners, or whether there were shorter runs as well, but that's a lot of runners! He said that their software allows for automatic wireless notices to family and friends of splits while you are on the course. And it spits out your splits and whatever as you go across the finish line. That's a long ways from tear-offs in the chutes.

In a separate conversation at SB's yesterday, a couple of women runners from a regular group that meets there on weekends said that Chicago had capped their entries at 45,000. I clicked on the website and it does say that registration is closed. There are a lot of nutty people in the world.

Less than a week to go for 3. Has anything been decided on the celebration? Do we need to make reservations?

Hope everyone has a good week.

Be careful out there.

Friday

Well, I made it through another week. A couple of ups and downs. Kind of like life.

The peanut gallery has been pretty quiet this week too.

I may buy my tomato plants tomorrow. The Old Wives' wisdom is to wait until Mother's Day, but the temperatures have been pretty steady the last week or so. I remember the last Summer that I had that other house in Bettendorf where I took care of Grandma when I tried to put out plants in mid-April. They didn't die, but they didn't grow either. So around Mother's Day I put out another set. And both sets grew like wild fire. I had more tomatoes that year.

My pal Roy stopped by the office this AM and I think we established a new low standard for meeting decorum. A female friend of his who had been at SB's coffee with him, came along to the office. With her miniature rat/dog. And they were joined by a guy (whom I knew previously) who wanted to talk about the possible purchase of one of Roy's businesses. When they came in, I was in the reading room, and I thought I heard a dog barking. Strange, I thought to myself. So I finished my reading business, and came out to a discussion going on about sending the dog in after me!

We eventually made our way down to the conference room. Dog included. And had a half hour meeting about the possible business transaction. The discussion was frequently interrupted by the rat/dog walking on the table between Roy and his friend! I'm not sure what was decided upon from a business standpoint. But my billing rate for that session was at a record high.

Uncle Phil advises me that he is now in a program at LT as a volunteer in the sheriff's department, or the conservation board. To assist with supervision on the lake. He had to do an in-the-water wet/dry suit test today. These retired guys get into some interesting things.

Hope everyone has a good evening. I'll be back for more tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Thursday PM

No more blog today.

Thursday AM

I need to get better organized. I left the office a little earlier than normal yesterday, and didn't get to the blog. I may have added and entry if I had access at home, but my pal Roy called and we ended up at Biaggi's for a cocktail. So it could have been a washout anyway.

The IC girls are wrapping up their semester. We have a graduation to celebrate on the 12th, but the details of the party have yet to be finalized. It may be back here in the QC. That weekend may be our last full-family event before 1's wedding in July. Does that draw another strata-line in my life's story?

That's a good question. How many strata-lines are there in a life? Can a life be easily divided? For me, there was always High School (and prior), ND, USAF, IC, C-town, QC, kids, my own business, and then it gets a little less definitive. The lines can be drawn by geography, employment, relationships, family events, and, in basic terms, time.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

I'm headed out to get in a ride before the masses hit the bike path.

I'm going through a period where I have too many "sticky notes" on my desk. Does that mean I have too much to do, or that I have a short memory? Or perhaps, that I don't get anything done?

3 says that she has her cap and gown and her honors braid. She is ready to go!

Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday II

It turned out to be a great day here. But we had to turn on the air in the office as the circulation is just not that good.

The big news in cycling is that Ivan Basso requested and was granted his release from Discovery. It all relates to the Spanish investigation on doping that was supposedly over and done with when Basso was signed by the team last Fall. Now, the investigation has been given new life and there could be some substantial fallout in the peloton. If they're dirty, they need to go.

The Bulls made quite a statement with the sweep of the Heat. In some respects, it was a case of match-ups, which favored Chicago. Hard to think that way when you have Shaq and Wade on the other side, but the energy, speed and relentlessness of the Bulls' attack made it an open-court game, and Miami just couldn't keep up for a whole game. The next series with Detroit will not be so one-sided.

The friend at SB's who's been writing the book has the final product on the market. It's a soft-bound book with maybe 200 pages or so. He was highly motivated/inspired by his subject, an ultimate fighter who endured an extremely difficult and abusive childhood, and later became a world champion.

What happened to April?

The repair to my "good" bike was more than I spent on several kid bikes in years past. Ouch! They replaced several items, including the right gear shifter that never worked 100% correctly after the UPS shipping problem of 2003. The components are a little expensive to start with, but I can imagine that I paid top dollar for just the right hand unit as opposed to a matching pair. I suppose that a full "tune" to a high-end bike every three years should not be expected to be cheap. The price of a good ride, I guess.

The Monday Night Ride is this evening, but I'm taking a pass. I'm in such embarrassingly bad shape that I need a couple more weeks before I join with those guys.

So I'm headed home for some domestic chores. Send 4 a "get well" note. She had a bug last night with bad results. She and 3 did do the 10K yesterday morning, although 3 says that there were no land speed records broken.

Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

A few lines to check in this AM.

Nice weekend here. Sunny and warm. I had intended to add an entry Sunday morning, but as I was getting started, I got a call for a SB's second cup. And I never made it back to the office.

BBQ with 2 and 3 last night. Good stuff. 3 is in town to have a hip looked at by the athletic chiro up the street. (He's works with athletes!) She's down to her last two weeks of college.

15+ mile bike rides both weekend days. I'm a wimp. The wind made both rides a little less than enjoyable. More of the same this week.

This feels a little like the unofficial "first day of Summer" today. I'm two weeks past April 15th. It's warm and sunny. (No jacket today.) I can reasonably expect to ride most evenings this week. I'm motivated to get some over-due projects out the office door.

So I'll check in later. Have a great day.

Be careful out there.

Friday

Thanks to 1 for checking in.

Not much new today. At least we have some sunshine. If it weren't Friday, I would be out there on the bike.

Dogs at Golick's for lunch.

Hope 3 and 4 have luck on their Sunday run. Do the pasta tonight. Saturday won't do any good.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Short tonight. The cleaning people are in and are annoying me.

2 did a fine job with her event at the museum last night. Nice turnout and well done. One of the featured artists was a now-deceased priest from St. Ambrose, and the other was the gal who creates horse sculptures out of scrap iron and dead wood. I learned that the priest was the creator of the street sign that presents to passers-by the name of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Davenport. A carved-in-slate piece with the letters then painted. Kind of commercial, but a distinctive kind of thing apropos of a church. The horses were particularly interesting, although it made me wonder if the artist ever saw anything in her creative visions that didn't end up as a horse.

Cultural events like that always make me wish that I did more of those types of things. Isn't art one of the things that separates us from the less-developed species?

4 is working on a paper for school and asked for ideas. It's a news report with a little controversy angle, perhaps. I gave her the hog confinement facility debate. In Iowa, I think that the divisions on that topic go about as deep as those on abortion.

Speaking of politics, the first debate among 2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls is tonight. And just when is the first primary vote? This is why I got rid of my land line. Excuse me while I yawn. Is there going to be a referee there to call piling-on penalties as they all agree on the need to exit Iraq and the overall incompetence of the current administration? I suspect that the weeding-out process will come down to a contest of collecting good old American greenbacks. I may be forced to watch the NBA instead.

Hope everyone has a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

Dow 13,000. I wouldn't have bet on that level as of the first of the year.

Crappy day here today. Lots of rain. My sump pump at my house has been working overtime. I did get my yard mowed on Sunday so if the rain abates, I should be able to keep it under control if we get some dry weather in the next day or two.

I'm headed down to the Figge for a little event with 2 this evening.

Craig Wilson's column this morning was about his nightmare in air travel a couple of weeks ago, and the $800+ he spent on a one-way ticket to get home. Most of us have had an experience like that to remember. Here is my top ten list of worst travel experiences:

1. Iowa to Dallas for the 1970 Cotton Bowl. By car. Iced highways.
2. San Francisco to Kunsan, Korea 1973. It took 24+ hours to get to my new home.
3. Iowa City to Sterling with Mom 1975 Thanksgiving. Blizzard.
4. Dover, Delaware to South Bend 1972 to visit. Sideways rain on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
5. Chicago winters of 1978/79 and 1979/80. Snow on The Kennedy.
6. Steamboat, Colorado back to Brooklyn, Iowa 1982. The day the car died of cold!
7. South Bend to Philly in an USAF twin-prop 1968 for the Navy game. Scary.
8. Cabo back to Quad Cities 1999. It took forever. Finally by bus from C-town.
9. International Falls to Quad Cities 1992. Cancelled flights. Nothing to do.
10. Rural Delaware, 1972. He was over-served. I got out of the car in the middle of no-where and took two hours to walk home in the middle of the night.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

.

Tuesday

I had great expectations of getting the blog done early this morning, but it didn't work out. I had a client come in at 7:30 and I had to prepare some things for the meeting. I would like to get my life organized enough to do the blog before work so that I could get away earlier at the end of the day to ride. It's a goal.

I attended an executive meeting of the QC Criterium yesterday to check in on my investment. The Memorial Day races are just five weeks away so the organizers are starting to get serious in their preparations. The website is up. Check it out at www.quadcitiescriterium.com. In addition to the promotion work that the race is doing itself, I'm doing some radio spots emphasizing our sponsorship of the event. The next month is pretty important to maximize our involvement in the race.

Basso was put on the sidelines today by Discovery in response to new efforts in the Spanish doping scandal of a year ago. A big one-day race tomorrow in Belgium and another on Sunday will not have him in the peloton. An Italian prosecutor has decided to pursue the investigation even though the Spanish authorities determined that there was no Spanish law in effect at the time was broken. Messy stuff. They have some bagged blood that they think has been doctored for various racers, including Basso. DNA testing may be utilized, and if the bagged stuff is Basso's, he's toast.

Another ugly day in Iraq and on Capital Hill. More casualties in the field, and more lies uncovered in the Tillman matter. I have elected to not place current politics on the menu here, but we need a better answer to this mess.

The Bulls go for a 2-0 lead tonight against the Heat. I don't care much about the NBA, but it would be nice to see the Bulls' perimeter game and defense carry the day.

And in significant other news, Toyota took the worldwide lead in the first quarter over GM on units sold. I vaguely remember seeing the first Corollas that hit the market in Ottumwa in the late '60's or early '70's. Times change. It is a world market today. And we will not always be the center of it.

Speaking of change, my one-time fantasy girl Sheryl Crow is now off my list. Her latest recommendation for conservation is to use one square of tissue per bathroom sitting. I don't think that'll work. She has continued her global warming bus tour with Laurie David who is the wife of Larry David, the producer of Sienfeld (and, news to me, the voice of George Steinbrenner on the show), and the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Liberal is a term that does not do justice to their perspectives. In any event, I have emailed Sheryl that she need not change her schedule on my behalf.

So have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

No blog today.

Sunday

Just a few lines this AM. Looks like a nice day out there and I have quite a bit to do.

2 and I did brats at my place last night. Nice.

The 24 won in Phoenix last night, but I fell asleep and did not see the end of the race. The new design of the cars (they call it The Car of Tomorrow) is more bulky and the teams have not figured out the perfect set-ups yet. But the 24 and teammates 48 and 5 have all run at the front in the races that have used the car, so it is no surprise that he won.

And the Discovery boys continue in the lead in Georgia. But the big guns on the other teams are in Europe, so it will be interesting in the next few weeks to see who will reach prime form for the big races in Italy and France.

I got out for 75 minutes yesterday and will try to do the same today. Doesn't say much for a biker if he feels it after 15 miles on a bike path. It will be a long road back.

Less than 90 days till the gathering of the clan in Minnesota. 1 seems to have a good handle on preparations. No major problems at this point.

I've had Margret out the last couple of days. My neighbor tells me that I have a work car (the Taurus), a good car (the Buick), and a toy car (Margret). I guess he's technically correct.

That same neighbor was putting out ant-traps along the foundation of his house to combat an invasion of the creatures into his house. Knock on wood, but I haven't seen them in my place. I do get some small spiders in my basement, but nothing very serious. At the old house on the farm, we used to get flies in the summer, and an occasional mouse in the winter. I think the flies were a combination of the close proximity of livestock and kids who never shut the screen door.

I had my old bike in for a Spring tune-up last week, and I swapped it back yesterday for my newer bike to have the same service performed on it. The seat on the old bike is a little off positioning-wise, and if I had my hex-tool I would be able to adjust it myself. Anything to add here 3?

Less than three weeks now until 3's college graduation. On the comparative numbers game, she's age 22 and I'm 58. When I graduated from ND in '71, I was 22 and Grandpa was 61. In that period of time between mid-May graduation and reporting for USAF duty in July, I stayed on the farm, visited the girl friend in New Orleans for a week or so, and generally "hung out" in Ottumwa. I think that that is the only time I have ever been to NO. It was fun, but I remember it as being very warm and humid.

I reported for duty at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas in July and spent 12 weeks going to Transportation Officer school. I needed that to run the Motor Pool? I could have just watched a few episodes of Sgt. Bilko and I probably would have been ok.

So hope everybody has a great day.

Be careful out there.

Saturday AM

Sorry, but I took off last night and was on the road before I remembered that I hadn't left an entry. Fridays tend to be slow blog days anyway.

4 is over in Ames for a sampling of Veisha. ISU has had some problems controlling the masses in some recent years. The formula of cabin-fevered students, alcohol, and a taste of Spring have lead to some unpleasant results. I'll be curious to hear of 4's experience there.

We had a Spring event at ND called An Tostal which fortunately never lead to visits from the local SWAT teams, but there were some pretty outrageous activities on those weekends.

I see in the local paper this AM that the lone remaining really good player for Iowa is transferring to a yet-to-be determined school closer to home. No surprise there. The Hawks will be lucky to win 15 games next year.

John Edwards did admit that his $400 haircut paid for from campaign funds was a little pricey.

Lots of domestic things on my schedule today. Bike. Yard. Garage. Is that a triathlon?

I'll be checking in later.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

1 reports that her betrothed had a successful evening behind the dish last night. And that more appearances in Big 10 games may be in his future. Kudos to him. I'll have to think about it for a while before elevating him to numbered status in the blog. It's a big step.

The Discovery boys are back at it in Georgia. In one of the weirder stages of this or any recent year, the peloton let a break of 13 riders get away yesterday on a relatively benign route for a 30 minute gap. This essentially gave the win in the week long race to whomever in that 13-rider group does the best in the remaining stages. Pardon me while I explain.

Since Discovery had two strong, but second-line riders in the break, the remaining Discovery riders in the peloton had no incentive to chase the break. The team of the then over-all race leader simply didn't have the horses to drive the peloton, and the two teams who were not represented in the break, tried to make the catch, but wore themselves out before a connection was made. Interestingly, Discovery's two primary leaders, Leipheimer (who won California earlier this Spring) and Danielson (who won Georgia two years ago), both had designs on the over-all win here, but the peloton would never have let either of them go with a break, so they remained tucked in the peloton and followed racing protocol which is not to lead the chase for a break that includes capable teammates. Odd circumstances that might have been a little tough for the two Americans to swallow as they allowed their much less-heralded Slovenian teammate to take the headlines.

Leipheimer did win the individual time trial earlier today, but his teammate Brajkovic who was in yesterday's break has the yellow jersey. And Leipheimer is more than 26 minutes back. So the Discovery team will be charged with escorting Brajkovic up the big, beyond-category hill tomorrow to assure a team victory for the week.

In other drama, Junior created a stir at the end of last Sunday's race in Texas. After his car was wrecked beyond repair, he agreed to drive the last few laps for the 5 team because their driver, the volatile Kyle Busch, had left the track after his own wreck (which was the same one as Junior's), but the crew was able to repair the car, and they had no driver. So Junior jumped in and earned an additional 3 championship points for the 5 team. Lots of media-types out there want to criticize Junior for being reckless with himself, his own team, his company, sponsors, and lots of other current-day proprieties. I say, "Go for it, Junior." That's certainly how NASCAR was before Hollywood, TV contracts, and microscopic sports analysis.

I registered for TOMRV today (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley). That's the bike ride June 9-10 from Bettendorf to Dubuque on Saturday and back on Sunday. My TOMRV is Bettendorf to a bar in Galena on Saturday. Have a couple of adult beverages. And get a ride home, sleep in my own bed and have a full Sunday to do whatever. I mean, it's 85 miles to Galena. I'm not getting paid to ride. And my butt just doesn't do 200 miles in less than 48 hours any more.

My training for TOMRV starts Saturday. I'm taking a couple of more days of "nothing" to recover my sanity.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

The comment about the cobbler's kids yesterday was indeed a reference to me completing my own tax return extension at the last hour.

This was a very low key day. In years prior to my establishment of the securities business, I would usually take a day or two off from work after April 15th. But with the securities markets open today like any other day, I do not have the luxury of taking a personal day to recover my sanity. But the phones have been pretty quiet so it has been ok.

My Russian cleaning lady is back in Russia for several weeks to visit a daughter and new grandchild, so I have a substitute, whom I think is also Russian. She called to confirm her schedule last weekend. I stopped by over the noon hour to meet her, but she had come and gone. It looks like she did a good job, although I did have to rearrange my throw rugs. She probably put them in a pile to vacuum, and then had to guess where they needed to go afterwards.

I need to mow my yard tonight. My neighbors on either side have each mowed their yards twice. I may need to catch the clippings to capture the winter's waste on the first go-around. I noticed that some of my decorative shrubs have had their early leaf-sprouts singe by the spate of cold weather that we had last week. What had started as an early Spring may be somewhat the opposite.

I hope to re-energize 4000 Days in the next few weeks. I know that the stress of tax season has found it's way on to these pages and I want to get back to talking about the more positive things in our lives. The original goal was to provide a portal to reach out to the girls in their diverse lives and to share my thoughts and perspectives. It is interesting to realize that a well-considered entry on a daily basis is not that easy of a task to execute. Particularly when the pressures of work get in the way.

Maybe we need to revive Frank and Melanie.

OK. All for the day.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Thanks to AM for her entry.

Done here. The cobblers' kids rule applies.

Be careful out there.

Monday

While it is Patriots'Day, the real reason for the extended IRS filing date to April 17th is Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C. This was the renewal of a holiday celebrated years ago, but only reinstalled as a holiday in DC a couple of years ago. Wikipedia has a nice discussion.

Other than that, I have no news. It's been another long day.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Another day at the office.

Congrats to 2! She had a chip time of 2:11 this AM in her half in StL. She's the Daughter of the Day. She needs to provide details.

Tomorrow will be a huge day. Tons of things to get done. I will need my "A" game to have the kind of day that I need to have. I hope my mind can keep the mass amounts of information about various clients properly compartmentalized.

I wonder at times about that last straw of data that makes the brain overloaded. If the theory of the geometric growth in information applies to the human race in general, how does one individual who functions in a position of a constantly changing/growing data base keep the circuits from frying? No wonder we are The Prozac Nation.

Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Full day at the office today.

2 and Mom took off for StL around noon. I feel badly that I cannot follow her on the course tomorrow. Hugely bad timing for me. She did pasta at Olive Garden last night. It wouldn't do any good for her to have pasta tonight.

Yesterday was the date of the 71st wedding anniversary of Phil and Margaret.

The normal IRS deadline for individual tax returns when April 15th falls on a Saturday or Sunday is the following Monday. This would mean that the date this year would be Monday the 16th. However, since the 16th is also Patriots' Day, a holiday in Washington D.C. and six Eastern states, the IRS has elected to make Tuesday the 17th the deadline for all taxpayers this year. I've been doing returns for 30 years and this is the first time that I can recall this additional one day extension to a Tuesday. This must mean that the circumstances are truly unusual, or that my Alzheimer's is kicking in again. I'd bet on the latter.

You could make the tax deadline for individual returns July 15th and most accounting firms would be working weekends through that date. Nothing like a deadline to make things interesting.

Sunday is the Paris-Roubaix bike race in northern France. It is by many accounts the most significant one-day bike race in the world. "The Hell of the North." A little over 160 miles over mostly flat terrain, but with many sections of pave (General Classification) types of the big multi-stage races, but rather the gritty hard men who are willing to put up with lots of misery. Discovery's main man for this event, George (cobblestones). And the weather is often a bit sketchy. The winners of this type of race are generally not the Lance Armstrong GCHincapie broke his wrist in the California race and will not compete. They have some good guys though, so who knows. Luck plays a role too. A flat tire. A crash.

My pal Roy completed his coach's courses this week and will be an assistant coach in due time. In a style associated with PE instruction by cynics, the last two classes were supposed to go from 5 to 10, but actually went from 5 to 7, with a film included. He is certainly now well-trained.

All for today.

Be careful out there.

Friday

Not much here today. It's been another whirlwind day with lots of returns and phone calls. Very boring stuff.

I failed to comment earlier this week about Craig Wilson's Wednesday column about the spin class gestapo instructor. Much of what he said in jest was exactly the same as I experienced at the local Gold's Gym a couple of years ago. All of the spin class instructors there were 30-something females with way too much enthusiasm for riding a stationary bike in a dark room with loud music. And at 5:30 AM, my sensory functions didn't do well in that environment.

Good luck to 2 in STL. She heads down early Saturday to join her friend at the new Busch Stadium for a Cardinals' game. The half starts at 7 Sunday morning.

Formal for the IC girls tonight.

All for today. I'll try to do more here over the weekend.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

I agree with 1.

Mom said that 2 and 4 have purchsed their tickets for Europe.

I came in to the office around 5 or so this AM. It reminded me of the times in our last couple of winters in Chicago in the late '70's when we would drive in from Arlington Heights about 5 AM to beat the traffic. The snow and cold had combined to throw the train schedules into the unreliable range. And then would not leave downtown until 9+ PM to avoid traffic at night. Get home at 10 or so, snack, go to bed. And get up at Four Bells to start again.

30 years later and I'm walking the same walk. Bring on Power Ball.

A great article in the paper this morning about Casey At The Bat. There's a new book out about the guy who made a living reciting the poem. I'll try to scan the article and email it to the fans. If you were to Google "Casey At The Bat" in Google News, you'll get some info on the new book.

That radio referenced by Anonymous today was my first, and long-time, exposure to electronic media. I know we had it in the barn when I was a kid, but I think I took it to my room in the tween years to listen to games at night.

All for tonight.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

No blog today.

Too much to do. Too little time. And not that much enthusiasm.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

There is snow in the forecast for this evening. I brought the Taurus to wok today and there was frost on the windshield as I pulled out of the driveway. A little odd for April.

I worry at this time of the year about an oversight or mistake on my part that will have a large negative impact on one of my tax clients. That's always been the case, but in these last couple of years I've had an increased fear of screwing up. Is that a sign of age? Actually, I've had a couple of very difficult IRS audits on large-income clients within the last year or so. Talk about sobering experiences.

One of the positives of the information age is the ease with which we can obtain income tax data from clients and investment companies. I had two instances today where clients sitting in my office were able to log into their investment accounts and print out tax advice statements during our meeting. Compare that to the past where I would have to call a broker whom I may not know and beg for a copy of the form that I needed. While this access has disclosure and security issues, it sure is nice in the days around April 15th.

Uncle Phil indicates that the block of reservations at the hotel in MSP for the wedding may be being used and that we should get our names in. He's actually getting in on Tuesday before the wedding and ran into availability issues at the normal reservation desk for the extra days.

How 'bout Cleveland hosting their opening series in Milwaukee? Lots of debate these days on the weather problems of Northern cities when stadiums in the South and West are empty. Scheduling problems.

The new Discovery stud, Alberto Contador, is in a stage race in Spain this week. They sent the "B" or "C" team with him so we'll see how he does on his own.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Busy day here. I can alert the viewers that there will not be much to read here this week. I have a bunch of returns to get out over the next four days.

I thought the Easter weekend was a success. I was only available for the evenings, but those certainly went well. Three nights and two full days may be the "Vegas weekend" plan that works best for us. At least when there are no vacation location activities (read: Lake Tahoe) to break the total-access togetherness that can strain everyone's sense of space.

2's half marathon is in StL this weekend. She did nine yesterday. So she should be fine. I may not be able to get there as the timing for me is not good.

Is there a bigger fool out there right now than Don Imus? Makes you wonder if these somewhat public figures in the fringe media have any contact with reality. He should be canned. I suspect that he will find few friends rushing to his public defense.

Interesting how CBS follows the NCAA tournament with an equally self-gratification presentation of The Masters golf tournament. Jim Nance is generally ok, except I think that his efforts to deliver a spontaneous and home-spun play-by-play of these events actually sounds coached or rehearsed to me. You can't tell me that his relating of the Jack Fleck stories with the Iowa connection when Zach Johnson came into contention were not fed to him by some producer back in the truck. Or he pulled up Google on his computer.

I'm outta here. A special thanks to 1, 2, 3, and 4 for making my Easter weekend so special.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today. Family din-din this evening with all members in town.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Out of gas again.

1 plus Matt and 3 headed in this evening for the weekend. 4 tomorrow. FFF for the weekend.

The weather has turned chilly on us. There were snow flurries yesterday. The plants will need to stay inside for another week or two.

My neighbor mowed his yard this week! He always has a step on me. My mower may not even start.

2 and 4 will be comparing notes this weekend for their trip to Europe. They need to figure out plane fares and departure points. 4 needs to start planning for her extended visit there as she will have little time to do at the end of the school year.

4 advises me that she is off Business as her second major and into Poly Sci. I have the scent of grad school in the air.

All for now.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

No blog today. Business dinner tonight.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Too late to write tonight.

Congrats to Mom on the Clan NCAA tournament pool. The Oracle did finish strong.

If you get the chance to watch "The UCLA Years" (or something to that effect) on HBO, do so. It is an analysis pf the U-clans' NCAA championships. The focus is on Coach Wooden. I sat next to him on a stage at a South Bend high school awards ceremony a few lifetimes ago when he gave his oration on The Pyramid of Success. If you are a fan of basketball history, the program is must-see TV.

As a little insight into this author's psyche, Mr. Wooden is in that very small, highly select group of people whom I would walk across the street to see.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Thanks to AM for giving us all some food for thought. I like the one for the Retired: If it's not easy, don't do it.

I enjoyed the NASCAR race yesterday. The 24 and 48 did the old "bump and grind" for the last 25-30 laps on a track no bigger than the one in Eldon. Unfortunately, the 24 came in second.

I'll be headed out soon to watch the game tonight. Can't say that I really care who wins. Lots of talk today about how fouls can impact these games so much. Should the college game go to six fouls before disqualification, just like the pros? Good question. One of the things that happens in the tournament is that teams may be experiencing whistling that may be different than the standard set in their conferences. Certainly, the Big 10 is a contact, grinders' game. The officials in the tournament in the early round games seemed inclined to let the teams play. But in these later games, they have called things pretty tight.

4 advises us that she has been accepted to the program in Spain for May. 2 is planning to join her for a couple of weeks of travel in late June or early July. I wish I were in college again.

My pal Pete's second son is transferring from Iowa to Augustana next year. He'll have two years of eligibility remaining. This will make the games next season more appealing to me. If 2 is still around, we'll have a few more date-nights.

Once I get past April 15th, I've got to pick out some sporting events and get them on my schedule. I miss having a game or other event to go to on a regular basis. Augie and St. Ambrose both have many Spring sports on the calendar. Maybe some track meets.

If I ride four days a week, the open dates shrink. And the yard and garden will soon be calling. So really, when it comes right down to it, I have a lot to do. But this stuff, including the biking, can get old pretty quick. Besides, it's more fun to get out there and do stuff with others.

The issue of what to do is a real significant one for early retirees. If they don't have an interest, they sit at home and life gets pretty dark.

I didn't even realize that it was Palm Sunday until I took a break from work around noon yesterday and caught up with the news on the web.

All for today. Thanks for checking in.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

One of my readers needs to pick up the baton this week. I am out of gas.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Just a few lines before heading out for what's left of the day.

Had a little Tuscan red last night after work. Small crowd as many of the regulars are off for Spring Break with various family members.

Then I woke up at 1 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. For what ever reason, my mind kicked in and I started thinking. A very bad move at 3 AM. I finally got a little more shut-eye between 5 and 7, but I didn't get rested. Hope tonight is better.

Final Four in a little while.

More tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

Thursday

Another day at the salt mines.

The carpenter did a pretty good job with the doors. And not that big of a mess. But he had to come back today to move the light higher on the wall. I suspect that dust will be in the equation tonight. At this point, my only critique is that I made no effort to match the wood stain with the color of my other trim and furniture. The doors are not far off, but may be a little more "golden" than some of the other items in my house. And he used gold doors knobs. I might have preferred brushed brass or pewter. Then again, I could have actually stepped up and taken an active roll in these selections rather than tell him to get "whatever". Martha Stewart I'm not.

Anyone see the bloody nose that the USAFA player got in the game Tuesday night? I think that that may have been the most blood that I have ever seen on a basketball court. They had considerably less horsepower than did Clemson, but they distinguished themselves well by never giving in to defeat.

The class and character of the military acadamies' teams always draw strong reviews. Even the most jaded of money-driven elements will often step back and comment, "Wow. I'm glad those guys are on our side." Me too.

Any thoughts out there on favorite pizza? We had a staff lunch today and had delivered in Happy Joe's. While I'm not a huge pizza fan, this was very pedestrian fare. I like Harris' Hawaiian, and the deep dish served at some of the Chicago places. Maybe it's the crust more than it is the toppings. Any ideas? Aunt Martha used to make a pretty good home-made pie. I don't think they had places that delivered back on the farm.

Please contain yourselves over the big NIT game tonight.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I think I might prefer tax return piles on my floor to seven hours of parent-teacher conferences.

Word came from a couple of sources that my tone the last couple of days was a little down. Sorry that my mood at the office ran over to the blog. One reader sent me a very good little essay on a guy trying to get some of his commentary on SB's cups. And Craig Wilson's column today was good for a couple of yuks. He was talking about guys wearing bling.

My favorite story about rings is the one told by the now-deceased Al Maguire, the old Marquette coach and CBS basketball analyst. There was a pretty heated rivalry in those days between ND and Marquette. When he moved on to the TV booth, he liked poke the ND crowd by asking, "Do you know how to tell who's the Notre Dame guy at the party? He's the guy picking his nose so that he can show you his ring!"

I'll be curious to get home and see how the contractor did today with my doors. I fear for the dust.

Well, I missed the mark on my comments about what would get to the floor of the Senate. What a political mess.

I need to get out of here. A little vino is in order.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Another day at the office.

I chose not to read Major Ryan's analysis of possible winners in the clan's pool. That level of interest smacks of a fantasy league scorecard.

I will be staying away from 2. The last time I was with her when she had a cold, I was out of commission for six weeks. I hope her recovery is speedy.

My office is a pit. It will probably stay that way for another few days.

In my mail at home last week was a packet from the Diocese of Davenport with materials to complete if I needed to file a claim for past sexual abuse from priests. And there was an article in the paper over the weekend about the Diocese of Dubuque settling more claims in their region. Fortunately, I can take solace from the local attorney who has represented many of the claimants against Davenport by his assurances that "it's not about the money".

More trouble for women's college basketball. Tennessee is up by 20 in the first half of their regional final. Not only is women's basketball hard to get excited about, but there appears to be a big disparity between the few big "have" programs and everybody else (the "have-nots").

Interesting commentary in the political columns about the steps taken by the House last week to attach a withdrawal time line to an Iraq appropriations bill, and to subpoena certain White House political advisers with regard to the storm over the firing of the US attorneys. The politicians with Presidential aspirations are all trying to decipher the tea-leaves of public opinion, which has been mixed at best over these matters. If the Dem's want to make a change in government, they need to be careful of how blindly they follow the left-wing lead of Nancy Pelosi. I wonder with the bad press that the House bill received if it will even make the floor of the Senate.

I need to get out of here. Have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

So I took a break yesterday. It was a nice day and I just elected to not come in to make an entry.

It is almost hot here today. It has to be in the high 70's. I guess that it is supposed to cool down later in the week.

I've also chosen not to go to the third coaches' session with my pal Roy this week. Just too much to do. I'm glad that he has taken the ball and is making it to the required classes.

Margret was out for a spin yesterday. Lookin' pretty fine.

My picks in the NCAA tournament continue to wallow in the also-ran category. I watched some of the games on Sunday, but had much more interest in the NASCAR race at Bristol. The 24 managed a third place finish in a car that was doing nothing but going backward in the first 150 laps. Toyota is getting cooked in NASCAR. They're not very competitive at this point.

3 was through town today on her way back from C-town. We dined at Golick's for lunch on the church steps. The owner said that he has been open for almost two weeks.

My new doors were supposed to be installed in my bathroom/hallway today. But the contractor called a wave-off because the door-building place in town had made the frames the wrong size. Let's see. You give the place the measurements. They ignore those instructions and make them the same size that they make most of their doors. Why even give them the specs? The new installation date is Wednesday.

Anybody notice the empty seats in many of the regional games? I have a women's regional final on right now between Rutgers and Arizona State at the Greensboro coliseum and the place is empty. I thought I saw quite a few open areas in the men's games as well, although nothing like the entire empty sections that exist in women's games.

I still haven't figured out the economics on the reasons why they built the new Wells Fargo arena in Des Moines and didn't tear down Vet's Auditorium next door. The new arena is a nice place, but I don't think they fill it very often. For the hockey game that we went to on Friday night, the box score said attendance was 5,000+, but that had to include season ticket holders. The upper bowl wasn't even open. In fact, they had some sort of mesh curtains up there that partially closed line-of-sight to those empty areas. I guess some concerts have been sell-outs, but the configuration of the area in those situations is usually for seating capacities at less than the maximum for basketball or hockey.

That's about it for today. Enjoy the warm weather.

Be careful out there.

Saturday

Back from DM. Very enjoyable stay with good friends.

Saw 4 for a cup of coffee in IC on my way back. Had a very rude younger guy wait on us at SB's. He did not want to steam my Americano. The gal actually doing the work had no problem complying. But the kid was still complaining at my request 10 minutes later when they had a lull in business. A new low standard for the SB's corporation.

1 was doing a little flower-girl dress shopping today with the B's. She had done 9 miles this AM with Missy.

2 is going to her "gala" at the museum tonight. She's a ticket-girl and an auction assistant.

And 3 is living the life in C-town. We are a very active family this weekend.

More tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

I'm headed over to DM for the evening with Dr. D. Hockey game? Back tomorrow AM.

3 was in and out. A little tire problem on HOOPDRM which Mom took care of with her friends at Farm & Fleet.

I'll catch-up on things tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Thursday

Say, "Goodbye, Steve, good buddy".

Games tonight. 3 is supposed to be in town for the evening, on her way to a Chicago weekend.

It seems to me that the Selection Committee did no favors for Kansas. KU gets a number one seed, but in the West region. UCLA gets the two seed in the West, where the Regional games will be played in San Jose. Uh, who is likely to have the better environment? The Jayhawks have to first beat an underdog that the casual fan will favor, and then, likely, UCLA. (Similarly, Texas A&M, the three seed in the South, plays their Regionals in San Antonio.)

I was glad to see theUSAFA get to the semi-finals of the NIT with a home win last night. The fly boys get to play at MSG next week. They have a good coach whom they may be hard-pressed to keep.

Bettendorf is soon getting a new fitness club, Anytime Fitness, in the recently completed strip center at the corner of Devils Glen and 53rd. A graduate of Assumption and Loras, Molly Campana, is the manager. Bettendorf needed a new fitness club.

Hope everyone has a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

This was almost a classic example of an early Spring day. Rain. Lightening and thunder. More rain. Mugginess. Plugged downspouts. I can almost hear the farmers getting ready their, "The ground's too wet" chorus.

I just had an early dinner with a client in Rock Island at The Chinese Kitchen. Humble surroundings, but great foo. [Sic]

How about a Top Ten list to get everybody's Spring juices flowing? Here we have the Top Ten indications that Spring is here. Not necessarily in order:

1. You don't put on gloves when you leave the house.
2. Lowe's opens an outside entry door to their garden shop.
3. Gollick's Meats fires up the grill for lunch.
4. High school baseball games in the papers' scorecard pages.
5. Pictures of runners in shorts and t-shirts in the Lifestyle pages.
6. A full (or semi-full) parking lot at Palmer Hills golf course.
7. Homeowners with spreaders laying down crabgrass preventatives.
8. Motorcycles.
9. Optimism in the Cubs' Camp.
10. Margret on the streets.

So hope everyone has a good evening. Don't be so afraid to add your own items to the list.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

Happy Birthday to Margaret!

My office is a pit. Piles and piles.

Out of energy. I'm headed out.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Monday. Lots of stuff going on here today. Typical for the first day of the week.

It was warm enough here today that I stopped by my house over lunch when I was out running errands and opened some windows. I'll have to close them tonight, but they say tomorrow is looking like another good day. Then cooler the rest of the week. My house gets so stuffy in the Winter and has that "old house" smell to it. The again, it is an old house.

Readers might want to check out www.criteriumfinancial.com to see 3 with her new BBF. The shot was taken just a couple of weeks ago in Omaha.

Tomorrow is Mother's birthday. She would have been 99.

I met with the salesperson for the radio stations today about the spots for us that I finally received approval for from my Compliance office in KC. They are one minute spots read by the host (on tape), touting our sponsorship of the Memorial Day bike races. We're going to start out with just two per week for the first six weeks, but then shift to a little more active schedule in May when race day gets closer. On the morning drive show. In the near future, I may get them posted on the website as well.

I did a letter to the local paper's sports reporter who has written a couple of stories lately about a game scheduled for next Fall's basketball pre-season between the local small college, St. Ambrose, and ND in South Bend. (I think they changed the rules last year enabling D-I schools to play D-III teams in the pre-season which won't go against the maximum game count for their schedules. This competition in lieu of those touring club teams from foreign countries or commercial-sponsored amateur teams in the US.)

Anyway, the reporter had an initial story saying that this was going to be the first meeting ever between the two schools. Then in a follow-up story, he related the feed-back from several local readers who were involved in a similar game in SB back in 1957. One of those readers actually played in the game. That reader is a now-retired businessman, community leader of sorts who has a pretty good way with words. The reporter gave him credit for remembering "everything" about the game, including that it was played in the old "Rock gym" at ND.

I had to point out to the sports writer that his source may not have actually remembered "everything". The fact is that the old fieldhouse at ND was never known as anything other than "the fieldhouse". "The Rock" was, and still is, the Rockne Memorial, a students' facility on the old South Quad with basketball and handball courts, and a swimming pool. (Back in my day, the pick-up games at The Rock were legendary. But that is another story.) I told the writer that the small embellishment went well with his story. No harm. No foul.

He didn't respond to my letter.

My experience with the guy is that he likes to dish it out, but has pretty thin skin when it comes his way. I wrote him several years ago when he butchered a story on a TdF stage and he subsequently announced in print that he would never do another cycling story because he got so many responses critiquing his ignorant interpretation of the facts. To my knowledege, he has remained true to his word.

4 needs to suck it up and give us some material. We miss her thoughts.

So have a good evening.

Be careful out there.

Sunday II

Just a few lines this evening.

I got outside on my bike for the first time of the year this afternoon. Just a simple out and back on the bike path for about 40 minutes. It felt good to stretch the legs. A pretty steady South wind made the ride down to the path a little extra work.

2 stopped by the house for a water in the middle of her 7-8 mile run. She said that her trip north with 4 was a success. By leaving early this AM, she was able to get back with lots of daylight left.

I'm probably going to take a pass on this week's coaching classes. With Terri out for the week, it makes no sense to blow out of here at 3:30 two straight days just to accompany my pal Roy to listen to some well-meaning coach ramble for 3-4 hours. Plus the travel time. I just have too much to do.

My St. Patrick's Day was a bust. Other than listen to some loud, already-over-served losers sitting at the bar at Old Chicago where I went for a lunch sandwich, I was a non-participant in any festivities. Maybe next year.

I watched a TV taped-delayed replay of the final stage of the Paris-Nice bike race this afternoon. The commentators are the same ones who do the same thing for the TdF. Their vocabularies are limited. If you took certain adjectives out of their list of available ones, they would be mutes. I think they just sit in a room watching the same TV feed that we see, and go to great lengths to describe the race as it unfolds before us. I think this may be the modern day equivalent to the old radio broadcasts created from ticker tape reports. Remember the simulated-live horse race call done in The Sting? Same thing.

Ok. Have a nice evening. See you here tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Sunday

Sorry to miss yesterday. I was here most of the day, but I just never took the time to post an entry.

I had originally thought about going over to DM for the Saturday night championship game to support my pal Pete's son. But the game wasn't scheduled to start until 8:45, which is past my bedtime. So I begged off. I don't think my attendance would have helped. They got beat by 20 in a game that didn't look that close at the times I checked in on it on the tube.

At this point in the family picks competition, the Eastern Iowa branch of the clan sucks.

A Discovery rider from Spain just won a big 7-day race in Southern France (Paris -Nice) with a charge up the last mountain on the last day. I have followed the race on the Internet. Really amazing how much cycling goes on in Europe. They also say that there is a new major sponsor in the wings for next year to replace the Discovery Channel. I wonder if that sponsorship is contingent on all of the riders staying drug-free? It should be.

3 is back on her way home to IC. Sounds like the trip was a success, but she also was looking forward to getting back to IC (and Chicago).

Anybody notice that the Chicago Bulls have been playing in green uniforms the last couple of games? Another marketing scheme for sure. Ugly. Then again, the black uni's that they trotted out a few years ago aren't that much better, and they have stayed in the rotation. Whatever it takes to sell a few more jersey's.

A case study for MBA programs might be the dust-ups that have surfaced this year in NASCAR between some of the new sponsorships of certain teams and NASCAR corporately, or existing deals on other established teams. The 31 car has been the Cingular Chevrolet for the last several years, but AT&T acquired Cingular last year, is phasing out the Cingular brand, and wants to put the well-known AT&T logo on the car. But NEXTEL is the primary sponsor for the Cup series and has veto on any conflicting sponsorships. AT&T has recently sued NASCAR under a free-commerce argument to get the logo on the car.

A lesser conflict popped up this week with the 7 car and Robbie Gordon's sponsorship from Motorola. Another NEXTEL exclusiveness problem. It sounds like they have that one worked out for today's race in Hotlanta.

All of this is a little interesting since Sprint bought NEXTEL a year or two ago and they are dealing with the probable phasing out the NEXTEL name.

I'm headed out to get some fresh air this afternoon. I plan to come back this evening to get a few more things done in preparation of the busy week ahead.

Be careful out there.

Friday

No blog today.

Thursday

Lots of games today. The ESPN site is keeping score as the games are completed.

This is "The Ides of March." Wikipedia has a couple of nice paragraphs that describes the history and usage of the term. I always thought that it was either somehow unique to March or that every 15th of a month was known as the Ides. Apparently, it only applied to the 15th day of a few months, and was the 13th day for the other months. Also, it was only applicable to the Roman calendar, which was replaced by the Julien calendar in the first half of the first century BC.

Then there's the conversion to the Gregorian calendar, but that gets even beyond the obscure interests of a trivia buff.

The "Ides" is the solution to the frequent clue for a four letter word in crosswords for something like, "March date", or "Bad day for Caesar".

I have the Buick out for the first time in a couple of months. I hadn't planned to do so today, but when I stepped outside to go to work this morning, the Taurus was heavily frosted over and I didn't feel like scraping. After having driven only the Taurus for so long, I had forgotten what a nice ride I have in the Buick.

My pal Pete's youngest son is on the Bettendorf HS team which won their first round game last night at the state tournament. If they win tomorrow and get to the finals, I may go over Saturday for the game. Another of their good players is the brother of one of 4's AAU teammates.

I'm not all that creative tonight. Hope 1,2 and 4 have a good start to their weekend. 4, if you're reading, use plenty of tanning lotion!

Be careful out there.

Wednesday

I have pretty well lost contact today. My office looks like an accountant's in tax season.

Enjoyed 1 and 2's comments on yesterday's blog. I can be the blame for lots of issues in your adult lives. I encourage you not to emulate much of my decision-making.

Saw 2 at Duck Creek SB's this AM. I had stopped in around 8:45 for a second cup. She pulled in as I pulled out. I think that she has become addicted.

The hardest thing about my job right now is that I have to shift from tax return questions, to investment issues, to client inquires, to staff oversight, to telephone calls, and to who knows what else, in the space of 30 minutes. It creates a lot of stress.

2 is in charge of adding color to my re-modelled bathroom. Shower curtain and wall adornments. Maybe towels and the like.

The games are underway. I got Wally's entry into the family contest. I'll do mine in the AM. Uncle Phil advises me that Wally's entry doesn't qualify for the travelling trophy. If Wally were to win, I'd buy a separate trophy for him. He's family to me. He and I did this a long time before the ESPN set-up. We would sit at the sport's book at the Tropicana in Vegas and argue about the games before it became an industry. I always do his entry at a different time than my own. He favored the West, the Big 8 (now Big 12), and outlaw schools that were big on JC transfers and low on GPA's.

Glad to see 3 in the family contest. Hope her Internet fees on the cruise ship are covered by some blanket, daily access package.

I know 2 and 4 are headed up to the TC to see 1 tomorrow. Always feels good to see the girls together. But I miss them when they are not in this area code.

Late for me. See you on line tomorrow.

Be careful out there.

Tuesday

70's and sunny today. Great day to be inside doing tax returns.

The play-in game is tonight. First round of NIT games as well. The Real Madness starts in less than 40 hours. Get those picks registered!

I do have my completion certificate for the first coaching clinic class on my office door. One down. Three to go.

An interesting tidbit of controversy for that play-in game tonight. The NCAA powers-that-be elected to not place the two lowest rated teams in the game because both are from "Historically Black Colleges" and they didn't want to eliminate one of those teams (for certain) in the play-in game. I think that that logic is a bit over-done. Niagra, the higher rated team, may have a gripe that they have to play the game, but they do get a national TV audience, and the winner is going to get waxed anyway.

VIACOM is suing YouTube for $1 billion for unlawful use of protected property. It's really another Napster-type of situation. There's big money out there and the traditional media moguls like VIACOM do not want to watch the new kids on the block walk away with all the cash.

Tiger Woods created a stir a week or so ago when he and the PGA brass announced that he was becoming the host for a new tour event to be held in the Washington DC area in early July. The event effectively takes the place of an event called The International held for the last several years in Colorado. That event folded early this year when the organizers could not secure a primary corporate sponsor. (A little of a reach for Criterium Financial.) The vision is to make the new event a clone of the tournaments hosted by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at different times in the year.

The Palmer and Nicklaus events have "invitational" fields, which means that fewer players are asked to play than in a normal weekend tournament. That rankles the lesser players. But it's the big names who draw the fans.

The other reality that this illustrates is that if Tiger plays, the tournament will probably succeed. AT&T, which already corporately sponsors a couple of other PGA weekends, quickly stepped up as the corporate sponsor. The people in Colorado, where Tiger never played, can be heard in the background grumbling at their fate.

It looks like the state of Iowa is going to pass a new law that adds $1 tax to each pack of cigarettes sold in the state. The logic is to discourage smoking and to collect taxes. I have my doubts about the success of the effort to curtail smoking habits. It's an addiction!

I think that the warm weather today will have finally melted the ice in front of my garage. That drift of snow-covered ice has reminded me of the slow-to-melt drifts in the mountains around Tahoe that we see on our mid-Summer hikes.

Anybody read the story this week about the sorority that dumped a bunch of girls for "non-support/participation" reasons? The fact that none were beauty queens not withstanding. I think the national office yanked the local house's permits after the story got on the wire. Girls just being girls.

Ok. Still light out and I'm headed home. (By the by, myself and my electronics all survived the time change without damage.)

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.

Monday

Real brief. I've got to go to Coaching Clinic 101 with Roy.

Can't say that there were many surprises in the picks. The biggest cry-baby's, Syracuse, K-State and Drexel are not that close to my heart. I did think that Illinois, Arkansas and Stanford all got in because of their conference reputations.

The clock is ticking on your selections.

2 and 4 came over for BBQ. Steak and chicken strips. Au gratin potatoes. Good stuff.

Margret got out for the first time yesterday. Had to drive over the small snow/ice bank in front of my garage. But she fired right up and felt good.

Have a great evening.

Be careful out there.