Sunday

This is a visit to my old stomping grounds: Sunday AM at SB's. Some of the worst music ever.

Yesterday was a big day for 2. Moving day into her new house. We did a U-Haul truck for the morning and got all of her bigger stuff transported in a single trip. Now she has the challenge of making the new address her home. She is again, Daughter of the Day.

3 reports that Boston has been a good experience thus far. She did manage to get lost on the way back to her apartment one night, and there were a couple of relatively small things of damage from the movers, but so far, so good.

The Olympics have been all Michael Phelps. At least one national sports writer wrote the obligatory, "I Hope He's Clean" column, similar to those on Dara Torres last month. To an extent, I actually consider the column a bit of butt-covering, the equivalent of "short-selling" a popular growth stock in the face of a rising tide. With all the adulation pouring towards Phelps, a somewhat negative article will be largely dismissed. But if that small likelihood of a cloud were to later surface, this hack could lay his claim to the the "I told you so" insight of a brave Protector of Truth. Right.

I finally got back on the bike a couple of times, including 25 yesterday. I think Mt. Rose took a little more out of me than I had originally thought. Over the next month, my goal is to keep in the 100 miles per week range, and then shut it down for Turkey Trot training. The local bike club has an event in September where they set up a "century" course. For the more-committed, that's a 100 miles. For the less-anal, that being me, a metric century is the order of the day. My pal Pete will pull me home.

There was another local cyclist killed last week on a ride on the Illinois side. A 61 year old physician out on a mid-morning training ride. There has been no toxicology report on the driver, who left the scene, not that it matters. Nationally, there are always similar stories. Sometimes there is some road-rage from the driver, sometimes poor choices by the rider. Golf commentator David Feherty transports his bike each week on the PGA Tour, and he's been hit twice this year. Usually, bikers don't come out real well in run-ins with cars.

Shocking to see that the Irish aren't in any of the pre-season college football rankings.

My experience with the airlines, and the Incline Village Bike Shop, last week pretty well convinced me that when 2 and I make our trip to Italy next year that I'll be renting a bike when I get there rather than trying to transport my own. The cost of shipping is a big impediment, although these costs can vary dramatically from airline to airline, and there are different rules for international travel compared to domestic travel. (Delta wanted $175 each way to get my bike to Reno. My 5-day Tahoe rental was $171.) Who knows what the rules will be a year from now.

I had actually prepped my own bike to take to Tahoe on United (@$100 each way), but the flight cancellations convinced me that chancing the timely arrival was not my best choice. And the bike I rented was just fine. And I didn't have to struggle with the big transport container for the bike, another big negative for travel in Italy.

Probably the best thing about the Olympics is the overshadowing of US politics and such other critical news such as Britney and Brangelina. I suspect that most of the wags have been using the break to scour their thesauruses for new superlatives for Barack.

So I'm off to seize the day. Have a great one.

BCOT

Wednesday

These pics are not from Hot August Nights in Reno last week. But they could have been. Margret is not a show car, but she still draws interest. 2 and I saw a Margret clone in convertible format at the auction. For a minute, I was tempted to get into the mix. Fortunately, the bidding got into five figures which took away my interest. Like I needed another car.

My body has yet to recover from the trip. From the time I got the 1AM Friday morning automated phone call on the cancellation of our flight, I have been one groove short of matching the regular/expected response ratio. Just plain off. I didn't think that it was a sleep thing, but maybe that's it. Last night I was staring at the ceiling at midnight.

Lots of news in all forms of media on the Olympics. I haven't got the bug. I find the time difference disconcerting. I've never been a fan of tape-delayed broadcasts, even if its a round of weekend golf on network TV. Some of the NBC televised evening events are coincidentally live as they are actually taking place the following morning in China.

It is interesting to read some of the stories of the men and women who compete in obscure sports that you never hear about, even in the box score pages of USA Today. They work years and years on skills that receive publicity only on this quadrennial basis. Whatever it takes.

The three commercial outlets in Incline Village that we most-frequently visit on our Tahoe vacations, SB's, 7-11, and Raley's grocery, are examples of ventures that could fail only if management made a concerted effort to do so. I suppose that they could run into problems if they lost contact with decent employees, but with their locations, and the lack of competition, even poor service might not hurt the bottom line all that bad. That SB's has to be a gold mine.

Knock on wood, but I think that I fixed an electrical problem on Margret that no less than three maintenance shops either failed to address or diagnose. My brake lights were staying on after I had driven the car around town for several errands. The problem only appeared after the brake fluid had heated up and the switch on the master brake cylinder wouldn't perform it's auto-shut-off function. My neighbor Jim and I figured out it was the switch last night, and I replaced it tonight. Shockingly, the local Autozone Parts store had the replacement switch. For good measure, the wrench I used to make the fix was an old pipe wrench from the farm. I mean, Margret is from 1964!

This last photo today of Sand Harbor in the distance was taken from the scenic overlook above Incline Village right after we took the family pics. What great stories those rocks hold!

1 and 3 need to share their digital photos. I'm hopeful that one of the family pics on those cameras is a little better than my copies. (Uncle Phil's photography skills may need work.)

OK. This is a good first step back at the blog. More tomorrow.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Monday

Tahoe pics.

Tuesday

My evening got messed up with a band of thunderstorms that rolled through town at six o'clock. It didn't get done until after seven, so my evening ride was literally a washout.

Big day for 2 tomorrow. She closes on her new house at noon. We did a final walk-through with her after work this evening in anticipation of taking possession after lunch.

My pal Roy is on an airplane to Ireland tonight. He's going over for just a few days to attend the wedding of another friend. He has a tough life. He does turn 65 next week, so he may be running away from his reality.

The Great Mississippi Valley Fair opened today in Davenport. Its the equivalent of the Scott County Fair, but carries the other name. It has all the things associated with a local fair (rides, exhibits, and displays), but it also features big name grandstand shows. Usually country. They open with Sugarland tonight, and have Alan Jackson later this week (along with some lesser stars). They sell a "Fun Pass" for something like $35 which allows entry to all shows all week. A pretty good deal. If you don't mind crowds.

Another restaurant chain, Bennigan's, bit the dust. The franchise owned stores stayed open, but look for them to also close soon or to change brands. The restaurant business is tough, and if you can't find your market, you hear crickets.

The countdown is now down to two days. Start your checklists!

BCOT

Monday

I am officially dubbing this "Tahoe Week". As I write this, I calculate "wheels up" in 82 hours. Not that I am counting or anything.

I acknowledge 2's semi-compliment from yesterday's entry. But the comparative is a very low standard. As I said, the guy is a hack.

I took tonight off from training. I generally don't like riding more than three consecutive days, particularly after longer weekend rides. I figure I'll get the DCC route in three more times before take-off.

The former ND football player, Jeff Smardzija, who signed the big baseball contract with the Cubs two or three years ago, and whom my friend/client in DM wanted me to see last week in a game over there, got the save with the big league club yesterday. Heady stuff. It looks like he may have a future if he can stay healthy. His heater has late movement, and he showed a nasty splitter.

Cycling is one of those sports that has an annual world stage in the Tour de France, and annual world championships, so what is the value of the Olympics to a rider? Arguably, most of the guys who show up on 8-8-08 will either be second stringers, or out of gas from three weeks of chasing Carlos Sastre.

Speaking of cycling, a friend who races age-group stuff in the region just bought a set of wheels for his race bike at, get this, a little over $1000 per wheel! And speaking of cycling economics, I was in the bike shop this afternoon considering an upgrade to my bike computer (they make them with wireless technology now), and managed to easily say "no" to a GPS model that was priced at $695.

For the record, 4 gets a GPS for Hoopdrm before anybody else in the fam (in this area code) gets that service.

Congrats to 2 for making the number she needed on her GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test). She had to put in some preparation time, and was a little nervous. Good for her. She can now get formal acceptance into the Iowa MBA program.

I think that the test I had to take way back when for my MBA classes was called the GRE, the Graduate Record Examination. I have no clue on when I took it, or where, or my score. It must have been in Delaware since I started taking MBA courses when I was stationed at Dover with the USAF.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Sunday Night

I got way ahead of myself on that link to the Wundram column. When I went to add another paragraph, I couldn't get rid of the underline function. Blogger is handy, but every once in a while, I can't get done (or undone, as in this case) what I want done (or undone).

Another loose end on Blogger is the use of the Google email account sign-in protocol. Sometimes I will want to go to my gmail account while in the middle of the blog, and since I changed my Gmail data for some Blogger update, I have a different Google User Name for mail, and if I try to publish while that Gmail window is open, the system hick-ups. Strange.

When I went to get SB's coffee around 9:30 this morning, the shop had sold out of it's supply of the local Sunday paper (probably because of Bix) I bought the NYT. The newsstand price of $5 is hard to swallow. After making my way through the paper for 20 minutes or so, I was reminded as to why I grew tired of that particular paper last Winter when I received it as a gift. Way too much slant in every section. Last time I checked, we elect in this country, not anoint.

Busy week in anticipation of Tahoe. My assistant is out on vacation too, so I'll have more stuff to take care of myself. There are those in the audience who might wonder if I'm up to that task. We'll see.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Sunday

I made a brief appearance on RAGBRAI yesterday. After my normal weekend ride to DeWitt for breakfast, I returned on one of my regular routes that just happened to be part of the RAGBRAI route...for five miles. I was on that segment around 9:30 AM, and it was thick with riders then, even though that location placed the riders within 10 miles of the end of the ride. The stipulated distance for the day was 53 miles, so those folks go up early to get done early.

2's Saturday night bachelorette party was an apparent success. I was drafted to man the grill, and concluded after-the-fact that I actually needed a second grill. My results were OK, just not up to my standards. It made me think of those monster-grills at Lowes or The Home Depot that are the equivalent of a full kitchen for the patio. I like to grill, but if I had one of those things, it would sit idle most of the time. I mean, I live by myself!

The Tour ended today. A Spaniard on the CSC team won. American Christian Vande Veld finished 5th.

Speaking of Spaniards, and Americans, is there a rule of grammar that stipulates whether a native of a particular state or country is an "iard, ian, man, or er"? An Englishman. A Canadian. A New Yorker. A Floridian. A Frenchman. A Dane. A Swede. Some nerd has probably written his thesis on the topic.

Before I am strung up as a sexist, I offer that the same question applies to natives of the female gender. Although does that point even come into play except where the designation is "man"?

See this link to a local hack who is several years behind on ideas:

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/07/27/opinion/columnists/bill_wundram/doc48895408bcf90962488212.txt

Thursday

This has become a little perplexing to me as I find my enthusiasm for The Blog waning a bit on these long Summer Days. Part of the reality is that my training time is probably taking time directly away from 4KDays. When I was speaking with a biking friend last weekend about my schedule, he did a quick calculation and concluded that I was doing 10-12 hours a week on the bike. Which is a lot of time.

Then there is the additional reality that I have slipped into a more "current family history" type of topic-matter, and let's face it, we're not that interesting! Just kidding. But with 1 and 3 in the middle of job changes, 2 buying a house, and 4 juggling two internships and prep for senior year, my musings on this or that pale in comparison.

And we all spend more time outside and running around than in the cooler months. Even with the occasional hot day.

Whatever. I'll try to do better. I've got an idea or two for Tahoe.

Chicago today for a conference. It was a 24 hour trip that I began last night so as to avoid the morning rush. It also allowed me to get a ride in before departure. The conference was at the same facility as last Fall when I ran a photo of 1's birth hospital in Arlington Heights. Typically boring topic.

The storm that came through the QCA early Monday morning left a lot of people on the Illinois side without power. They say that winds got up to almost 100mph. Many, many trees uprooted or blown down. The PGA tournament course took a big hit. If the tournament had been this week, they would have had problems.

Anyone catch the WNBA brawl Tuesday night? The female columnist in USA Today (Brennan) was almost gloating about how women can now be as nasty as guys. Great logic.

This picture is of le Alpe Duez which was the climb a couple of days ago. Great stories.

I may have mentioned here that the traffic or weather gal on the WGN morning drive radio program is Mary Van de Velde, whose brother is the team leader for the Team Columbia team in the TdF. Monday was a rest day for the Tour, and the host of the radio show had Christian on the phone from France, live, talking about the prior day's stage! Very cool. (The host, Spike O'Dell, was a former QCA star who made the leap 15 years ago to C-town.)

More later.

BCOT

Sunday

Happy Anniversary to 1 and 1.1!!!

I'll get a "couples" picture up first thing in the morning from my desktop. For some reason, I can't upload the picture of the two of them that I want to for the occasion.

Here's a repeat of their photo from the July 4th weekend.

Busy weekend here. Great trip over to Des Moines. And plenty of riding to keep the schedule on training.

3 was in for an overnight visit too. She's got a full plate for the next month as she makes the move to Beantown.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

2 and I are in DM for the game.

More later.

BCOT

Thursday

Another hot one here. Feels like Summer.

The golf outing with Roy was fun. The golf itself was marginal. I sprayed it around like one of those cartoon fire hoses that no one can control. I saw a lot of the course.

Two weeks to Tahoe. In case anyone is counting.

Very discouraging news out of The Tour. One of the hot shots tested positive for doping. He won a stage earlier, and finished second in May in the Giro d' Italia. He was the third rider kicked out of this year's race. Hard to believe that they can't control the renegades. The sport is imploding. Unfortunately, the various governing organizations are fighting among themselves and there's no leadership capable of taking charge.

LeClaire , Iowa (just a few minutes up river from Bettendorf) is the end point of this year's RAGBRAI. The ride begins on the western border of the state this Sunday. LeClaire is having a kick-off party tomorrow directed at people who are coming to town, parking their cars, and getting a bus ride Saturday to the western starting point. Not a bad idea. They've set up a stage and a big tent for a beer garden.

Personally, I think that the finish city is not all that big of a deal. Riders who have been on the road for a week mostly want to go home for a shower. Another beer party doesn't have the same ring after 450 miles, air mattresses, weather, hills, and the crowd. My bet is that LeClaire will be a ghost town by mid-afternoon a week from Saturday. Unless the traffic is so bad that people just can't get out of town.

They are closing three Starbucks stores here. They expanded in a big rush, and verteran coffee shop guys could have predicted slow sales at those locations.

2 and I are headed over to DM for an Iowa Cubs game on Saturday. My friend/client Dr. D. invited us. The DM Cubs have that Notre Dame football player on their roster. Back Sunday.

The neighbor's garden has started to come in. He brought over some cucumbers and sweet peppers tonight. I'm pretty confident that my tomatoes will be ripe while I'm in Tahoe.

All for now.

Have a great Friday

BCOT

Tuesday

I guess that the consensus for the t-shirts is the Coors Light mountains motif. I don't recall 4's comments on the 4th, and I had made a comment to 2 this morning before reading 1's entry on the blog. I guess the genes may be working.

4 and I spent some time on the driving range at Pebble Creek tonight. I have an outing tomorrow, and I needed to get my radar adjusted before my tee time. My back can take only so much. 4 is just trying to get comfortable.

My pal Roy and I had lunch at Sports' Fans today. That place does a good lunch business. From all walks of life. There really aren't that many of the non-chain places that we can go for lunch. I get tired of 1.1's favorite place, Gov's.

I'm headed to bed early so I can do the route in the morning. With the golf outing, I won't be able to get out tomorrow night.

Have a great Wednesday.

BCOT

Monday

Here's to 3. She's Daughter of the Day. Her life is getting a little more complicated. She's accepted a new position in Boston beginning in August. Right after Tahoe.

2 is in the middle of the events to lead up to the closing on her new house. There may be a problem with the garage. It has a wall that may need some work. Its never easy.

I did a little 16+ ride tonight just to stretch the legs. Lots of riders out. Over the last seven days, my mileage has exceeded 150 miles. Which is getting me closer to where I need to be to make it up Mt. Rose.

The market has continued it's drift downward. Banks have been killed, as sellers are just abandoning the sector. Balance sheets may not matter as much as the business that you are in. Pretty hard to make investment choices. Cash is king. The shorts continue to rule.

For the record, in my circle of men friends, Pete's wide body is legendary.

Anyone have any thoughts on the term, "false front"? While Hollywood has it's definition, mine comes from golf and cycling. In golf, they will sometimes carve the front of a green in such a way that shots that might look good from the fairway, roll back off the front of the green and into a collection area that requires a delicate chip to get close to the hole.

In cycling, a false front is actually a false "flat" which is the last part of a climb where the hill flattens out from the steeper grade below, but that still requires effort to cross. In assents on the higher mountains, you can actually have sections that visually look to be going down, but actually still have gravity pulling you backwards. Mt. Rose has one of these near the top of the pass at the entry to the Rim Trail.

In architecture, and crosswords, a false front is called a facade. And in turn, in describing a person's public personna in perhaps difficult situations, an individual might put on a "good facade."

I'm sure that if a I kept going on this that I could come up with a baseball usage as well. Aren't our presumptive candidates now out there "pitching" to the various interest groups with their efforts to convince the electorate that they are each ready to "play ball" and save the world?

Is there anyone out there less interested in Brett Favre than me? I don't think so.

2 needs to order the shirts this week. Please give her some comments.

Hope everyone has a good evening.

BCOT

Sunday

I'm guessing that we all have such busy lives that 4000 Days can't match the real world.

This has been a picture perfect mid-Summer day. A little breezy,but not much humidity. Great day to finish the PGA tournament here this week, the John Deere Classic. While they didn't get many of the big names on the tour, the area really supports the tournament, so the crowds have been good regardless of the leaderboard. My pal Pete and I checked out the post-golf party tent last night. We were home by 9:30, which speaks either for the lack of sizzle there or the reality of our ages.

The big news here this week has been 2's entry into the housing market. She has had her offer on a nice place in eastern Davenport accepted by the seller. Closing is scheduled for July 30th. We are all excited for her. Now she'll have the enjoyment of dealing with all of the thrills of home ownership: plumbing, snow shoveling, carpenter ants, and crab grass among other realities.

Since we leave for Tahoe early on the 1st, she won't have much time to get moved in beforehand. But once we get back, she'll be full time getting herself organized in her new digs. I'll let her file her own report on the event.

Pete and I have been riding quite a bit together. The way I see it, I'm running out of Mt. Rose training days. Pete is a stronger rider, and I use his wide body for drafting. I definitely feel stronger than I have been, probably since my last assault at Tahoe. 50+ this AM on my own for breakfast in DeWitt. Great ride.

I have a golf outing one day this week, so I went over to Duck Creek this afternoon to checkout the status of my game. It sucked. I joined a twosome at the first tee, but pealed away after five holes. The guys were jerks. One of them got into a shouting match with a dad behind us when his high school age son hit too soon before we had cleared the fifth green. The confrontation was totally uncalled for, as my two partners were playing like it was the US Open. And slow besides. (I was planning on playing only 13 holes anyway to save my back for the outing. I played three random holes on the way in, and called it a day.)

This is why public courses get old real quick. Say what you want about the cost of country club membership, but if you're a golfer, you don't want to deal with the all-comers at the muni course.

I need to get to the store to get ready for a little BBQ with 2. I'll add more later.

BCOT

Monday

July 4th weekend 2008.

BCOT

Sunday

The Tour started yesterday. This year they begin in the Northwest section of the country and journey counter clockwise around the country, ending as always in Paris. The first week is basically for the sprinters, the mountains coming in the second and third weeks. Where the overall favorites will go at one another on the big hills.

Saturday was another great day of FFF. We got 4 out onto the golf course for the first time ever. She did ok, and had some pretty good shots on the last couple of holes. 3 showed a little rust.

Saturday evening was spent at the River Bandits baseball game. Really not a bad game, although the seventh inning got long, long, long. Ryne Sandberg is the manager of the Peoria team. He seemed very detached from the game. I never saw him speak the entire game. Not even to his own players. Including the time he went to the mound to replace pitchers. I suppose that he has developed some thick skin from all the solicitations that he gets when he might seem available to the public. That and the general joyous experience of minor league baseball.

Our out-of-town guests headed back to their homes this AM. 3 and James on Amtrak out of Princeton, Illinois. 1 and 1.1 and their canine by car to the TC.

Pictures from the weekend should be available tomorrow.

Summer hit with some high around 90 today. It is July. Just 26 days to Tahoe.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

Lots of FFF over the last couple of days. Figge on Thursday night for fireworks. (2 was the event director for the museum that night and she did a great job.) BBQ at my place on Friday night: another smashing success. And it looks like today will have a full dance-card as well.

Hard to believe, but my yard needs rain. I've been watering my potted annuals all along, and they need it at least every-other-day now.

34+ early this AM for a little breakfast at Hardee's in Eldridge. Just enough wind to make the trip home a little work.

Worst service ever at Gov's yesterday for our FFF lunch. If that place had just a little competition in the immediate area, it would have trouble staying afloat. It was one of those days where the staff lost touch with reality. Kind of like the Lakers in game six of the recent NBA finals. They didn't show up.

I've been dealing with a small, but irksome situation with carpenter ants in my kitchen. I've always had a few bugs in my basement, spiders, megapods, etc., and I'll spray occasionally and they're gone. These ants have been a little more hearty. It seems that they come in through the bottom of my back door frame, and I've sprayed several times. None now for a couple days. Stubborn little creatures.

Female swimmer Dara Torres has qualified for her fifth Olympics. At age 41. I thought that this was a great story, and in searching for a current picture, I came across an ESPN column that essentially said, "She's gotta be doping." And the comments after the article were hot and cold on the writer. No in between. I choose to believe in her.

Off to the golf course with 3 and 4.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday

This has been a funny week. I've had to deal with a variety of challenges at work, and the place where I take Margret in for service managed to damage her rear passenger-side quarter panel in a very unfortunate accident in the shop. I've tried to take my pal Roy's advice and ratchet the tension down a few notches. Not working all that well at this point.

I've compared this incident with Margret as the automotive equivalent of going to the hospital for treatment, only to contract another disease while there. You could also relate it to the IT guy coming in for maintenance on the system, and then you not being able to run routine programs once he's gone.

3 is in NYC for the day chasing a job. She gets back tomorrow afternoon. In time for FFF at the museum, including 1 and 1.1.

Uncle Phil had a "small" heart attack over the weekend. Can any heart attack be small? I spoke with him today and he sounds pretty good. His drill will be to watch what he eats, and take a few more drugs. His diet will consist of mostly things that don't taste good. Lots better than the alternatives.

I've conducted a very unscientific survey and have concluded that 70% of pick-up trucks on rural Scott County roads are either black, white or red in color. (Someone may want to argue as to whether black and white are colors, but that's another discussion.) And red trucks usually pass you while going faster and closer to the cyclist than the black and white trucks.

I've continued to bike quite a bit. I did the Marycrest hill a couple of times on Saturday. It tilts at like 20 degrees near the top, much more steep than anything on Mt. Rose. Of course, its only an eighth of a mile or so in length. My pal Pete and I are doing an early run in the AM.

June was the worst June in the stock market since 1930. July has continued the slide. The argument is that stock are now "on sale" at reduced prices. The rub is that "reduced prices" does not necessarily mean that stocks are cheap. To be continued.

Reports on FFF to follow soon.

BCOT

Saturday

Another great day here in the Quad Cities. My pal Pete and I had talked about doing a tail wind ride, and that was definitely the best choice, but it didn't happen. I did my ride on the bike path and the hills of East Davenport, as well as a couple trips up the Marycrest hill on Fillmore Street. Its a good sign for Mt. Rose that I can do those hills now. My conditioning is coming around.

DeWitt in the AM for breakfast.

I enjoyed the darker humor of 3 and 4's six word bios, and the admissive comment from 2.

Here's my offering for today: "Iowa boy. The farm stayed close."

Sounds like 3 has a good lead on a job in Boston. Same company, different group. Given the carnage in the banking business, any lead is a good lead.

I had a couple of LeRoy Neiman prints that we received as a wedding gift from my Best Man rematted and reframed recently. The previous matting had faded and the frames were retro-'70's. The new presentation is really cool. They'll hang in our reception area, across the room from the very cool, professionally framed and autographed poster of Lance in Paris on the Champs-Elysees.

The cost of framing and matting is a bit outrageous. And this is after the 50% discount. (I suppose that they'll be adding a transportation surcharge in the future.) Everybody from the car salesman to the doctor is trying to increase their "standard" rates so that after all the discounts, rebates and allowances, the net profit is what it needs to be.

The Bull's drafted a highly regarded point guard from Memphis in the draft on Thursday night. This probably means that their current point guard, and one of my favorite players, Kurt Heinrich, will likely be headed elsewhere. Its not like Heinrick is a bad player, but he really hasn't been able to lead the team to consistent success, and the new kid is more of the mold that NBA teams like these days. Maybe they'll be able to package Heinrick with another player or two and get a much-needed producer in the paint.

St. Paul was on the news tonight for the toppling of an old smoke stack. We are easily amused. I'm wondering if there was any underground side bets among the destruction crew as to whether they would get it to fall as planned.

Speaking of the TC, I saw an article last week that the replacement bridge for the one that collapsed last year will be done this Fall. And that the contractor was likely to earn early-completion bonuses.

Keeping with the TC theme, they are hosting the US Women's Open at Interlachen CC in Edina this weekend. I've watched a little on the tube. The course looks pretty tough. The girl in the lead has her dad on her bag. I don't think that that would happen in our family.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Here's to the underdog Bulldogs from Fresno. They had a pitcher and a hitter each reach out and grab the high brass ring last night. The stars were aligned. Great story.

Let's plan for Omaha next year. I expect Erin to be there and that she will greet me like she would any senior citizen.

I saw a story today that observed that the NCAA had strung out the tournament an extra couple of days and eliminated some double-header two-fers which smacks of money moves. My guess is that there will be a further erosion of the small-town feel as they move to the new stadium in a couple of years. The NCAA will want their money for that 25 year contract, and the citizens of Omaha will have to pass on the costs. A different example of collegiate inflation.

Brutal day on Wall Street. Lots of discussion as to how much of the rise in the price of oil is the result of speculation. They call it momentum investing. But the food chain of general consumption cannot ignore the increased costs of inputs, which need to get passed along, recaptured. The basics of inflation.

My six word bio of the day: Liked words. Loved his four girls.

Not bad efforts from 1 and 4. It does require thought.

I had an energy deficit after lunch today. Had to take a power-nap on the floor of my office. No ride tonight. Maybe at oh-dark-hundred in the AM. Its light at five bells. I could be done at 0615. Since I took today off, I need to get out there tomorrow. And I like to keep Friday evenings free.

Forgot to mention here that Aunt Martha's birthday was yesterday. She is Sister of the Day!

Have a good Friday.

BCOT

I never celebrated the Summer solstice on the blog last week.

No takers on the six word bio? I'm a little surprised. Here's another shot for today: "Stayed in between the lines. Mostly."

I'm thinking/working at the definitive statement.

Back on the bike tonight. 16 around DCC.

Looks like the College World Series may go to three games. Fresno State is killing Georgia tonight. One year, I want to go there for a couple of days. Maybe 1.1 could meet me?

So here's hoping your Wednesday is a good one.

BCOT

Monday

OK. I just got back from the deck at Gov's for a couple of beers with my pal Pete. Beautiful night. A few bugs. The Monday Night Riders were out in force. My workout was the yard.

So the new challenge is to come up with a memoir in six words. Like Julius Caesar's, "I came. I saw. I conquered." Or the guy with sight problems, "Macular degeneration. Didn't see that coming." There was an article on this in the Life section of the local paper today. Turns out that its all over the Internet.

Here's my first shot. "No answers. Working on the questions." Or, "Blue collar player. Curve killed him."

So give it a shot. It's an entertaining exercise.

BCOT

Sunday

Wow!!!

Go Cubs Go!!!

Busy day for me. I thought that I was going to beat the wind on the way to DeWitt. It didn't workout that way. But the ride back was a hoot.

2 came over after lunch and helped me scrape and prep my deck for new paint/stain. I got two new coats on it and it should be in good shape for a year or two.

The Indy cars were in Newton today. My guess is that that series will keep coming back, but what the promoters really want is a NASCAR race. Ain't gonna happen.

4 had her new clubs out at the driving range today. I need to get Roy involved.

I'm not riding tomorrow, so I'll try to spend some time here.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

FFF at my place tonight with 2, 4 and 4's friend, Phil. Salad, and all from the grill, steaks, corn-on-the-cob, steamed broccoli, and grill-toasted garlic bread. A little Tuscan red on the side. Anyone not here lost out.

33 this AM. McCausland. Into a pretty steady 7-10 mph wind going out. But the ride back was fun. DeWitt for breakfast tomorrow. 40 days to Tahoe.

4 has new golf clubs. It's not easy being left-handed. And that's just about finding left-handed clubs. Time will tell as to whether the sport itself will make her question her sanity as it does for most everyone else. I'm going to test my friendship with my pal Roy to have him spend some time with 4 so that she can have an idea of what to practice on and how to do so.

Another win for the Cubbies at Wrigley. Get out the brooms tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

BCOT

Friday

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!

This would have been a perfect day in Wrigleyville. A walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Sox. I'm sure that the hard core are still at the Cubbie Bear.

For the pure baseball fan out there, I heard a comparison today that resonated for me. A radio announcer on ESPN this morning offered that Cincinnati's Adam Dunn is the modern day Dave Kingman. Strikeouts and home runs. Not much of a glove. But the home runs are(were) of legend. In the late 70's when Kingman was with the Cubs, his at-bats were must see events. Those were the good old days.

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday

I've decided to give Tiger some props on 4KDays for toughing it out last weekend and winning on one leg. The ACL is one thing, but a couple of stress fractures adds quite a bit to the legend. What does it say about the rest of the field?

My ACL reconstruction was done with a cadaver ligament. You can also use a piece of the patella tendon or a man-made substitute. My guess is that golf magazines will be some of the best sources of ACL surgery information over the next several months.

It has been hard to keep up with the blog these last few weeks as I try to maintain a training schedule. The rain has meant that I have to mow my yard twice a week, and Friday's are hardly ever open. What's a blogger to do?

The deal with Roy in Scottsdale on Tuesday was to listen to a pitch for a medical diagnostic process developed by a PhD in biophysics. See www.epicdiagnostics.com.

This gal did a very survey-level test on me and was able to detect most of my major ailments. She also said that I had "a lot of stress" in my life. (Like I needed a PhD to make that call.) I'm thinking that the company has a bit of a hill to climb to convince the hospitals, medical docs and the insurance companies of the effectiveness of the system. Roy is in, so I guess I'll have a view from the sidelines on whether the buyers bite.

I tried to follow 2's advice on the "cut and pasting" thing for my Word draft for the blog, but my technological skills were inadequate.

Father's Day was great. We did steaks on the grill at Mom's. 2, 3, and 4 in attendance. Steamed broccoli was the hit. 1 called in. (Thankfully, 1's card finally arrived today. I had been very concerned.) I now have enough outdoor chairs to seat everyone when the fam meets for FFF.

The air show is here this weekend. The US Navy Blue Angels are in town for the occasion. They spent the afternoon today practicing their maneuvers, buzzing the locals. It's a bit of a show. And loud. Back in time, as a Lt. in remote Korea, my barracks was right under the flight path of the airfield. And those F-4 Phantoms were not under any noise abatement protocol. But after a month or so, a guy on a check-ride going to immediate afterburner straight up wouldn't even register on my internal audio reference meter.

I had little interest in the NBA series, but I was glad to see Boston dump on LA. Does Kobe have the same appeal as OJ or what?

I'll try to be better with the blog in the days ahead. With no major plans over the weekend, I should have the time to upgrade the quality of my musings.

Have a great Friday.

BCOT

Tuesday

I'm in Scottsdale with my pal Roy for the day. Back tonight.

I did a blog on Word while on the plane ride, but I haven't figured out how to up load it to 4000 Days. Maybe later.

BCOT

Sunday

I'm back!!!!

It's been a hectic week, and the blog suffered. Hopefully, the pace will slow and I'll be able to recapture the routine.

The golf event with my pal Roy was a success, although we didn't win anything but the booby prize for the highest score in our flight. I actually played pretty well the first day, and we were in decent shape. Then we ran into some bad shrimp that night, and the second day wasn't pretty. My back survived, and I think that I'll play a little more golf the rest of the Summer.

The rain has been the big story in Iowa this past week. Cedar Rapids and Iowa City have been inundated with flood waters. Check out The Cedar Rapids Gazette online for pictures. www.gazetteonline.com

3 made it from C-town over to IC on Friday, but ultimately had to go South on the Illinois side and then cross over at Burlington, and head North. Even within IC, travel was limited. 4 tried to get there earlier in the day as well, but her boss told her to stay home as the shoots in IC had been cancelled. You don't realize how your life can get impacted until something like day-to-day travel is restricted.

My Top Ten memories of my Father:

1. Working on the farm: milking cows, haying, fixing fence.
2. Baseball.
3. Ushering at 9 o'clock Mass at St. Pat's.
4. Kneeling at a kitchen chair saying his prayers.
5. His life as a County Supervisor: elections, night meetings.
6. Visitations/rosaries/funerals. He went to them all.
7. Taking naps on the couch.
8. Bad jokes. Stories.
9. Coffee and toast. Throughout the world.
10. His lousy handwriting.
11. His weekly letters with $5 to me at ND.
12. Ford LTD sedans. Crown Vic's.
13. Dagwood Bumstead.
14. Oshkosh B'gosh overalls.
15. His dreams. Travel. New house.
16. Family.

Ok. So this was a little more than a Top Ten list. I could go on, but you get the drift.

My Top Ten list of being a Dad:

1. FFF. Anytime. Anywhere.
2. Trips to K&K, Whitey's.
3. Adventureland trips to DM.
4. Tahoe.
5. Christmas Eve. Any year.
6. Emails and phone calls from around the world.
7. Marathon watching.
8. Indian Princesses. PV Breakers.
9. Augie basketball.
10. Cheerleading. NYT puzzles.
11. The Turkey Trot.
12. Memorial Day at The Arsenal.
13. Sharing breakfasts at McDonald's.
14. Sledding at Duck Creek.
15. Graduations. (One to go!)
16. 1's wedding.

I could go on here too. And the list just keeps growing.

Switching gears...

I did get back on the bike yesterday for 27 on the DCC hills. Maybe a short 15-20 later today if the weather cooperates. Now less than 50 days to Mt. Rose.

And the Tiger Woods legend continues to grow. He made three shots in the space of six holes yesterday that stunned even the most jaded of critics. I know that the guy is a great golfer, and that he works on his game to the nth degree, but to continually pull off these incredible shots suggest to me that there is more going on here than just skill and practice. Something like lottery winners. I have always felt that the big jackpot winners are chosen by a higher power. For a reason. I'm thinking that Tiger is in that same group. Something between (or beyond) skill and luck.

Lots of eulogies in the press in honor of Tim Russert. I was not a big fan, nor a critic. He lived a full life, and was respected by his peers. I can't quite elevate him to sainthood as the members of the 4th Estate have seemingly suggested.

So we are doing some FFF today. 3 to join. If she can get back from IC.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Tuesday

OK. I don't understand the problem. The tomatoes that are sold in stores today are terrible to start with. I'm able to forego their inclusion in my salads with no regrets. My own will be ready in less than 60 days.

I've already reached overload on the political accusations. The spin doctors in each camp need to take some tranquilizers.

My first day on the course with Roy was not a total failure. We stayed on the range.

Biaggi's tonight to map strategy for tomorrow. Mostly, we drank wine.

3 has had a couple of interviews this week. She'll survive. Hang in there, Kiddo.

I over-bought on the bedding plants this year. I finally got them all planted. I feel like I am winning an undeclared competition with a neighbor lady who always plants way too many flowers.

So get out there and have a great day. I am.

BCOT