Saturday II

Happy November to all. Next month is Christmas!

I wasn't all that productive today. A little recovery from Friday at Biaggi's. Coffee and then Hy Vee breakfast with my pal Roy. Then a 49 minute run that extended past four miles. (Need to build up that distance/stamina.) Football. (All my teams lost.) Enough study on the camera to get those two pics up. And a spin with Margret. Not all that bad of a day. But a Loser's Saturday Night on the blog. And The Bourne Identity. Starring the neo-conservative Matt Damon.

One interesting exercise this morning was the small matter of losing my phone. And finding it. It's a story worth telling.

I had been at the office after breakfast to check on any Friday afternoon activity (since I didn't get back to the office yesterday afternoon following a client meeting on the Illinois side.) When I left a half hour or so later to get on with my errands, I had to make two trips to the car, as I had client files in the backseat that I had forgotten to take inside when I first arrived.

On the first trip out, I had set my phone and keys on the roof of the car as I gathered the files to take back into the office. I had to re-grab the keys as I went inside because I needed to lock the door. Didn't re-grab the phone. (Big mistake.) Took the files inside, came out, locked the door, jumped in the car, fired it up, and took off West on Kimberly to go to the dry cleaners just a little ways up the street to pick up some shirts. 30-45 seconds later, pulling into the dry cleaners, I look for my phone to check messages. Oops!

Fortunately, all of this happened in such a short period of time that even the Alzheimer's hadn't had time to kick in, and I was able to exactly recall the sequence of my actions described in the preceding paragraphs. If the phone wasn't in the car, I knew that I had to have left it on the roof of the car as I left the office. So I paid for the shirts and doubled back to the office to fully retrace my steps.

As most of you know, Kimberly is a four lane divided highway, and I looked across the grassy median to the westbound lanes as I went East to the cut-through, did the u-turn, and re-entered the office parking lot. I didn't see the phone. At the office, I first went inside to see if I had left the phone by chance on a box by the door (as I do at times). Nothing. Then from an office phone, I did the old, call your own number, to see if I could hear it ring. Still no luck.

Plan C kicked in and I walked through the parking lot, to the street, scanning the pavement. Nothing in the parking lot. Then its out walking alongside Kimberly (with exceedingly low expectations), with traffic whizzing along with little interruption. If I had had a sign, "Will work for a Phone", I would have fit in perfectly with some of the vagrants who occasionally populate Kimberly.

Finally, about 25 yards West of our office park entrance, in the crack between the two lanes, I saw the phone. In one piece. I hustled over to it at a break in the traffic, and picked it up. Except for a missing battery housing, it was undamaged. Amazing. Didn't see the housing close by, so I assumed it was gone. Blown in the wind.

But the phone gods were even kinder, as on my next drive by to head home, I saw the housing a few yards further up the road, and I was able to make a final scavenger recovery of the mostly undamaged housing. To an unknowing observer, my phone now looks a little "used", but certainly not like a veteran of Kimberly Car Wars.

This one could have obviously had a much worse ending. One could posit that this result, given the premise that you're going to leave your phone on the top of the car as you take off on an errand on one of the busiest roads in town, is as good as it gets. It certainly couldn't be much better. Unless you didn't leave the darn thing out to lose it in the first place.

There is precedent in my life for this kind of event. I specifically remember leaving some glasses on the rear bumper of one of my pick-ups after ending a bike ride at the Eastern Avenue parking lot, maybe 15-18 years ago. I was able to back track and find the glasses, but not before they were partially crushed by traffic. And uninsured.

Coffee cups and sodas have suffered terminal events numerous times over the years.

Now, my pal Roy loses his phones (yes, phones), pretty regularly. Nothing exotic like leaving it on top of his car, but by more routine exercises like in the seat of an airplane, a golf cart at a far away course, or while sitting at some other venue on his many travels. In market speak, if you were to "short" Roy's possession term for any one of his mobile devices, it wouldn't be a bad long term investment.

I think I pretty well beat The Lost and Found Phone story to death. Sorry. But it may be a reference point for the next family member's faux pas or mis-placement. Look for a similar meandering in a Craig Wilson colume coming to you soon.

Have a great evening.

BCOT

Saturday

Halloween 2008 with Sarah and Indy!

Thursday

I'm thinking that it was almost 70 here today. 2 and I did our run in shorts this evening. Record-setting time for Lt.PC.

Halloween tomorrow. Actually, several of the localities around here have been celebrating different things since last weekend. They all choose their own times for parades, trick-or-treating, and the like. There are very few things that I can say positive about Halloween. The girls enjoyed dressing up, trick-or-treating with kids in the neighborhood, and hoarding candy for months. There may still be some in the back of bedroom drawers.

Anyone notice that the Phillies won the Series last night? About the only interesting thing to me about that rain-delayed fifth game was the betting results. I guess the bookies' rules were tested by the circumstances. Did they just call the first night a push, and roll the pot to Wednesday?

In response to AM's comment from Tuesday, I clearly remember Grandma's Saturday Evening Post collection. And the frequent appearance of Norman Rockwell prints on the covers. Not wanting to destroy my image among my loyal readers, but that magazine registers on my scale about the same as Playboy: I mostly looked at the pictures and read the cartoons.

And RevKev, the camera is a Canon PowerShot SX10SI, with a 20x zoom lens, and 10.0 mega pixel clarity. Not the fanciest machine in their line-up, but I'm optimistic that it will meet my needs. All I have to do now is figure out how it works. We're talking video, sound and lots of things that I hadn't even considered. Technology rocks! (There's a rumor afoot that 2 is dressing as Sarah Palin tomorrow night, so I need to accelerate the learning curve.)

I was in a casual conversation today with a clerk in a store and I volunteered the factoid that the last Presidential election was the impetus for me to cancel my telephone land line. She commented in response that she had signed up on the Do Not Call Registry, and that she had not received any political solicitation calls this year. (The store was a local Trophy and Trinkets place. I was buying a box of US flag lapel pins to give out with my business card at client employee meetings. I have extra now, so I'm sending a couple to the Big O.)

October 30th is the anniversary of Orson Wells' reading of The War of the Worlds on CBS radio in 1938. There's lots on the web about the myth and reality of that presentation. Interestingly, I found nothing in my quick review that connects Orson Wells, family-wise, to the story's author, H.G. Welles. (Of course, the first clue was that the names are spelled differently, but I didn't know that when I started this paragraph.)

1 has a "Last Day" on her current job tomorrow. And then starts her full-time position (with full benefits) next week. She's done a great job getting over a bit of a rough patch. DOD material for the near future.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Wednesday

I've been a little bit distracted.

.
The hard frost came in and took out any of the annuals or perennials Monday night. I had brought everything inside that needed to be, and stuffed some other pots in the garage for a little safe-keeping. Those plants will come out today and should survive for another week or two. You can't complain if something lasts into November.

.

More proof that Major League Baseball doesn't care about the fans: there were pre-game discussions among MLB, the teams, umpires, and even the grounds crew Monday night in anticipation of a shortened game because of probable rain, but they didn't tell FOX. So Buck and McCarver spent a good portion of the broadcast hypothecating on what might happen if it did rain. With those what-ifs already planned for by MLB, the broadcasters came off, in hindsight, as a bit buffoon-ish. (That's rare: a buffoon-ish sportscaster.).

Of course, I saw none of the game.

This picture is a copy of a Norman Rockwell print that I have hung in my bedroom. Being a bit of a traditional sportsman, and humorist(?), I like the story that the picture depicts. Although I have always been troubled by the math. We have the Yankees and Dodgers. Home whites and traveling grays. Top or bottom of the 5th. Who's on first? If its not a complete game, does it get fully replayed? If the home team is behind and doesn't get to hit, who wins? So many questions.

.
High school football playoffs in Iowa start tonight. Not one or two, but rather, numerous 4-5 teams are in the large-class, 64-team field. Heck, with just one more game, everybody could be in. Lots that would prove. Reminds me of Dad's Club soccer where participation is the key concept.

As I approach my 60th birthday, I'm finding a few more genetic similarities with Daddy. Most recently, I've managed to nick the skin on the top of my wrists each of the last three mornings getting ready for, or traveling to work. Just little things that occur without pain or notice, produce a few drops of bloods, and then almost immediately self-seal. I remember Daddy having those same types of "nicks" while working with the cows or otherwise around the farm. I figured at the time that it was Old People's Disease.

We have met the enemy and he is us.

I almost forgot. I did buy the camera. I've had it for two days, and still haven't got past the "On" switch. 286 page instruction book with two separate 80 page booklets on peripheral (?) stuff. If I could get college credit for it, I think we're talking about a two-credit-hour, full semester course of study. I promise initial photos by week's end.

.

Have a great day.

.

BCOT

Sunday

Busy weekend in the Quad Cities. 3 and 4 had fun with their friends at the wedding and associated events. Modified FFF at 2's for lunch today. Both are now on the road home. Look to 3 for picture sharing.

A front moved in today and the temps are headed into the 20's for lows over the next three days. The wind came up and anything that wasn't tied down got blown down the street. I heard of one report of sleet up in Dubuque.

My primary task today was to get my seven-foot ficus tree into my house for the Winter. I had to find a pot for a transplant first as the current one had been outgrown. What I found was as big of a "pot" as is available for residential use. Maybe 30" tall and almost the same across. I barely got the re-potted tree inside, both from size and weight factors. It should survive the Winter, and will again take it's post outside come Spring. But if it grows as much next Summer as it did this year, it may not make it back inside.

4 was an intern reporter for the local television station on Friday night. This is the station that she interned at last Summer. She had previously declined an offer to do Friday night reports for the high school football this season, as it is pretty hokie unpaid employment. But since she was going to be home for the weekend, she had scheduled herself to go into the station on Friday to complete a project for one of her classes. One thing led to another, and she was sent out to do on-sight reports on certain games. She did great. I couldn't download the tape, but it is on www.kwqc.com

Click on "Sports" and then "The High Light Zone" and then segment 2 of the 10-24-08 program.

I did vote on Friday. At the local library. No line, although I had tried to vote there earlier in the week and took a pass because of a line. In an interesting twist at the library, ACORN had a table set up in the lobby and was handing out kits to voters as they left the building describing the proper steps to take to re-register and vote a second time. Somehow, they figured out that they didn't want my second vote, and I didn't get a packet.

The early voting process got me to thinking about whether those votes and absentee ballots are tracked in any way to the voters' home precincts? Early voting is available at only a few central locations. Obviously, each voter first fills out a name and address sheet for the poll worker. But I didn't see any method used to identify me on the ballot that I subsequently completed, nor on the separate envelope that I sealed the ballot in, and placed in the box. I know that local and state political operatives have always paid close attention to precinct outcomes. I wonder if the new trend in early voting changes this dynamic?

But since they do early voting only for the general election, the precinct data from primary and off-year elections probably give enough data for the politicos to do their slicing-and-dicing thing.

2 and I did almost four miles along the river yesterday. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 minutes. Which means that I'm on target for a sub-hour Turkey Trot. Less than five weeks to go.

On the wedding pics story from above, 3 took them on Mom's digital camera, and then 3 was able to download them to my laptop this morning. That little exercise re-enforced my conclusion that I needed to go digital myself. I even stopped at the local camera store this afternoon and checked out their options. Since that establishment is where my current camera was acquired, and I have had such good luck with it, they'll get my business on this new venture.

Major League Baseball had the third game of the World Series finish at 1:47 AM local in Philly last night. Do those guys have any care about viewers?

I need to rest my intellectual vigor.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Friday

3 and 4 are intown for the weekend. 4 is in a wedding. This is a pic of them from this Summer.

The girls corrected me on the football schedule mentioned in an earlier entry: the Iowa-Illinois game is next week. 3 had run into some guys at the airport this morning who were headed to the Illinois-Wisconsin game in Madison tomorrow, and my mis-statement had her a bit befuddled. Unlike the Main Stream Media, 4000 Days always has it right. Most of the time.

1 reports that she has been offered a full time position with benefits at a nearby high school beginning sometime next month. Congrats to her!

Have a great evening. I'm off for some Tuscan red.

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a few lines tonight. 2 and I met for our normal run. And completed the route in our best time yet.

Successful night last night in IC at The Airliner with 4. We've been pretty lucky getting a table without waiting most of those Tuesday nights that I make the trip.

My pal Roy spent the weekend in Florida scoping out the possibility of buying a place and establishing residency there. Lots of retirees get places there and spend enough time in the state to qualify as a resident for tax purposes. Florida has no state income tax. Higher income folks take particular interest in the tax laws in retirement destination localities. Nevada and Texas are other popular tax havens.

The World Series started tonight. Usually, I have a nominal interest in the event. Not this year. I don't regularly follow either team, and I know of few of the players.

The weather forecast has lows in the high 20's at the beginning of the week. We've had some cool morning temps already, including enough to singe the tips of the leaves on my big hibiscus plant, but the high 20's is getting down there. The golf shirts may be done for the year.

4 got word this week that she did get the Spring term internship at the CR television station in a repeat performance of last year. You go girl!

The story tonight on Criminal Minds was set in the Tahoe area. Some nutcase was killing people at a little out-of-the-way motel with a rustic cabin motif. I'm thinking that I rode my bike right by the place. Maybe even stopped in for a soda. I thought that there was something a little odd with that clerk.

Brutal day in the market. The dollar is up. Oil is down. Global growth is slow. Earnings are off. Don't look for an early turn around. At this stage, companies are almost encouraged to get the bad news into the current statements. Why delay the inevitable? Earnings are already in the dumper, why not get all of the toxic stuff in the open now?

I'm thinking that the tailgating in Champaign this weekend for the Iowa-Illinois game could be very robust. (Very robust. A duplicative description?) I remember going down there years ago for an early season match between Illinois and Nebraska (on a Nebraska fan bus) for a Tail-Great event. I was impressed at the time of the Illini Nation's ability to party.

So have a good day/evening.

BCOT

Monday

This is a shot of a visiting hawk in my back yard from earlier this month. Maybe he was trying to lower the population of field mice on the property. To my knowledge, he hasn't been back.

The butterfly just happened to light on the flower as I was focusing for the shot.

Amazing what you can see if you get up off the couch and walk outside.

More examples of how hard it is to take a bad picture with my camera. Although the results have not always been Grade A when there is someone else pushing the snapshot button. Actually, for Italy, I'm going to have to go to a smaller digital camera. Do they make auto-focus digital cameras?

The Iowa high school football playoffs will be decided this week. The braniacs decided to expand the field this year to 32 teams for each division. In 4A, you have just over 60 teams in total. Do the math. I think that you'll get at least one 4-5 team qualifying for the post-season. Must be a bunch of Democrats in charge. (Sorry. Just couldn't pass it up.)

Over to IC for Tuesday night at The Airliner with 4.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

Sunday at SB's.

Great day yesterday tailgating in IC. I'll try to get a couple of pics up later. The Hawks gave Wisconsin an old fashioned whipping. Not that 2, Mom and I saw any of it from the parking lot (except an occasional glimpse on the big screen on the stadium's scoreboard). Roy's parking pass provided for a premium position, 5 spaces in front of the Southwest gate. BBQ. Ambiance. Lots of empty beer cans.

Yesterday's exercise prompted the question several times of just when I started going to games, but not actually going to the game. I don't think that it happened at a specific point in time. It was/is an acquired life style. Mom pointed out that at least one time when we lived in Chicago in the late '70's, we went to South Bend and ended up not going to the game because the scalper's price on tickets wasn't reasonable. But that was a pure economic choice. And back in a time when ND was expected to win on most Saturdays.

By the mid '80's, the boys' trips to Iowa State football games, and the once-a-year trip to a Cubs' game had become much more about the trip than the game itself. I remember a Winnebago trip from Des Moines to Ames and my pal Wally and I watching the game on the RV's television. And one of the following years when we did the same thing in Lincoln. The Sports Corner at Clark and Sheffield in Wrigleyville offered the same diversion.

Along the same line of reasoning, there was at least one year when I was the full-time driver for our RAGBRAI group. Anyone who says RAGBRAI is about cycling has missed the best parts of the ride.

On our family trips to Adventureland in DM, my routine was to find a park bench and camp out for the day. And I really enjoyed those days. But since I always paid for admission to the park, I don't think that those days qualify in this analysis in the same sense as going, but not going.

Uncle Phil figured out that the World Series will be finalized before November this year. Even if it goes to seven games. If it goes to six, that game will be delayed so that Fox can broadcast a 30 minute spin cycle from the Big O. I was at first quite a bit put off that a network could be bought off in such a manner, but that kind of decision really falls to Major League Baseball, and those are the Einsteins who had the Cubs start a game at 9PM so that it would fit nicely in TBS's schedule. MLB is about $$$'s, and the O campaign is rolling in cash.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Birthday to 3!!!!

.

I'm thinking that I need some new pics to add to the album.

.

Its Boss's Day. So I'm leaving early. A little run with 2. Get ready for tailgating on Saturday.

.

BCOT

Wednesday

Happy Tax Birthday to 3! Here she is in one of my favorite pics with her friend Warren.

.

Rainy Fall day here today. Not sure if I'll get a run in or not. Befitting October 15th and the last of the 2007 tax returns, we may be looking at a little Tuscan red after work.
.

In a decidedly unplanned series of events, I found myself at Crow Valley Country Club last night with my pal Roy, his spouse, and another business acquaintance. My intent was to stay for a single glass of wine so that I could get home, to bed early, and ready for a productive day today. Well, one glass turned to consent for a second, and Roy made a big deal to get the Club Manager over to get the "best" Cabernet in the wine room.

.

The Manager trots out this 2005 Caymus Vineyards Special Selection Cabernet. For a mere $300 a bottle. When Roy asked if one of our other wine snobbish friends might choose such a bottle, the Manager closed the deal by saying in his natural European accent, "Oh no, Mr. C., your friend cannot afford this wine." Another story that will be told and re-told among the boys for years to come.

.

I pointed out to Roy that if you drop the "y" in Caymus, you get the name of a famous person in literature, and he was able to remove the necessary cobwebs and recall Albert Camus and existentialism. If the tree falls in the woods while no one is there, does it make any sound? Good 'ol Albert was a staple of first year English Lit at ND.

.

A new term that has come to the fore in the financial crisis is "systemic risk." This is a euphemistic term that is meant to describe a risk that can affect an entire market. That's why they bailed out AIG. They thought that failure of that company would have a broad negative impact throughout the economy. This in contrast to, say, Arthur Anderson, whose bankruptcy killed only a few previously wealthy CPA's.

.

Craig Wilson's column today was a Christmas-based effort in response to seeing the retailers get into the season. Yet another example of him copying my observations here in 4KDays. I wonder what else he does with his time. Surely his responsibilities extend beyond spinning out 500 words or so of Oprah-like shtick once a week. I mean, just how much of that syrup can people take? Its like drinking middle-shelf wine all the time; every once in a while, you need a change. Get something with some kick, for crying out loud. Geesh.

.

Sorry about that.

.

My Russian cleaning lady was scared off yesterday because my CO2 alarm was clicking (as those alarms do when the batteries are low). She had pulled the alarm off the shelf and set it on my kitchen table, but was too uncertain to just take the batteries out and silence the clicking. I'm not sure if she really wanted to work that much yesterday. (Heck, I had fortgotten that I even had a CO2 alarm. Even when I opened it to see the size of batteries required, I thought that it was a smoke detector. Alzheimers again.)

.

Have a great evening.

.

BCOT

Sunday PM

As AM noted on my earlier post, Skip did do the Chicago Marathon. He finished in just over five hours. Not bad for a guy who never trains adequately for the race.

I don't have a picture of Skip on his own, so how 'bout this one from the Twin Cities, July 2007. Skip's effort makes this group The Family of the Day. You da man!

AM's other comment referencing the article in the Sunday NYT was right on point. 3 might have some personal experiences to add to the story. In today's market, everyone is worrying about everything.

BTW 3, the current issue of the Iowa Alumni Magazine has as it's lead article a story about the Iowa Electronic Markets on the presidential election.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Sunday

My scheduled trip to Phoenix for a conference had to be cancelled for other business reasons. The market kept me on the phone much of last week, and some returns that I thought that I could get done, just didn't make it to the finish line. Plus, there's the possibility of additional market angst in the coming days. Biz is biz.

I pay cancellation fees on the United ticket, the hotel (because it was an Internet deal), and I will ultimately receive a very expensive binder from the conference sponsor (with schedules and presentation data). Tough to swallow, but there was no choice. Maybe I was too optimistic when I registered in the Spring that the October due date wouldn't be a problem. Then again, the market crash wasn't exactly on the radar scope at that time.

This situation illustrates the issues facing a small business that is heavily reliant on a single service provider. Clients expect access to that individual at all times of stress. There is no easy answer. But even brokers at big firms have their own clients, and its not like a long-time customer with a multimillion dollar account calls Merrill Lynch and expects to talk to the first available broker.

So anyway, I spent a good portion of yesterday at my desk wading through my messiest 2007 return. And am in the same position today. By Tuesday noon, the storm should have fully passed, as the absolute due date is Wednesday.

3 advises me that she got nipped by a small dog (on a leash with it's owner) during her run yesterday. She didn't think that the skin was broken at the time, although it did swell a little by the time she got back to her apartment. Hopefully, nothing more serious than that.

The incident does underscore the validity of my presumption that you need to be careful of animals. Of course, I have a history of being chased by various dogs over the years while on my bike. (When on a ride in the country, I routinely mentally go through my procedure to grab my air pump that is spring-loaded below my bike's top tube to fend off a pursuing canine.) It's not that I necessarily dislike dogs (except for the ones that dump in my yard). I just don't trust them.

Here's a little debate proposition: pet owners and pet non-owners are a little like our two political parties; the supporters of one group are not likely to move to the other side, and they each feel like the other side is prejudicially dis-inclined against them. Just a thought.

.

Gun-owners and non-owners might fall into the same sort of discussion.

Is "prejuducially dis-inclined" a bit repetitive? Is prejudicially a word?

My run last night produced another cramp in my left calf. There is just something about that gastrocnemius that doesn't like the improvement that comes with consistent training. Whenever I get past the "shuffle" step, there's a trip cord that says, "Not too fast there, buddy boy."

Today is the running of the Chicago marathon. Last year, they pulled people off of the course because of the heat. The temp this morning was in the low 70's with about 50% humidity. Not ideal, but workable. A Kenyan (surprise!) won in 2:06. I just tried to get on the site, and couldn't. (Is Skip running this year? And isn't 3's roomie also doing it?) The same thing happened to me last week when trying to check on 1.1 in the TC marathon. Lots of folks checking on lots of folks.

So get out there and have a great day. More later.

BCOT

Thursday

This has been a perfect Fall day. Unfortunately, I was inside for most of the day.

My final 2007 extended individual income tax returns are due October 15th. With me on the road at a conference in Phoenix beginning Saturday, those returns need to be done by noon on Saturday morning. Tomorrow needs to be a big day.

Lots of panic in the market. Another day of selling. Very few wheels remain on the bus. The "experts" have so many explanations, its a wonder the rest of us slobs didn't see Armageddon coming. I have people calling me wanting to take their money out of anything that doesn't have FDIC guarantees. A" run on the bank" ain't far behind. All sellers. No buyers. Yet.

The Airliner in IC where 4 and I meet for Tuesday 1/2 price pizza, was a feature article in USA Today today. They're running a series on sports bars for college football watching. I tried to post the lengthy link, but couldn't get all the information input correctly. If you're interested, just go to usatoday.com, use their search window with "airliner", and the story will be pulled up.

In other IC related news, I have my pal Roy's parking pass for the Wisconsin game on October 18th. Burgers and brats just West of the stadium. All are welcome! Details to follow.

The U of Illinois is opening basketball practice on a portable floor at one end of their football stadium after the football game Saturday against Minnesota. In hopes of drawing 60,000 to their first practice. With a charity play on the deal. The NCAA had to give it the OK, and they also had to give a green light for an early Kentucky event as well. Now they've said that further exceptions will not be issued. My bet is that there's money involved for all parties.

Who wants to watch a so-so team do lay-up drills in a football stadium anyway?

I'm rooting for the LA Dodgers in the baseball playoffs. Manager Joe Torre was a Cardinal before he was a Yankee.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Tuesday

Not watching the debate. Throw all the bums out.

I noticed on my pass-through of Hy Vee tonight that the gated garden store in the parking lot had been disassembled. I'd say that that is definitely a sign of Fall.

The trip to Burlington went as expected. It was good to see several other guys from the friend group turn up as well. That's good testimony to friendship. Particularly on a rainy day with marginal driving conditions.

I see where Halle Berry has been named Esquire Magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive. I'd say that that is debatable. But like so much in the entertainment industry, throwing something out there is just a way to develop story lines. Now everyone will come out with their alternative selections. Arguably, they had to choose someone at least 40 years old, or men like me wouldn't know whom they were talking about. Then again, do they care?

2 has Boomer Sooner at the top of the college football polls. Any bets on the Texas game in Dallas? Also known as The Red River Shoot-out. Both schools have a bit of a tendency to under-perform. Exactly how is the Cotton Bowl a neutral site? ND goes to North Carolina Saturday for pay back on a visit NC made to South Bend last year. As a TD underdog. Give the points and take the Tarheels.

The cartoonist who draws/writes Opus is closing the series. I have read the cartoon on Sundays occasionally, but not regularly. He's usually into politics, and many of his points are just too over the top for me. Like many of the contemporary comic strips, this one has almost always belonged on the editorial pages. But there is so little in most papers that doesn't have a left bent to it that the publishers have probably lost their abilities to distinguish between simple humor and political satire.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Monday

Here are the pics from 1.1's marathon yesterday. He is Son-in-law of the Day. It was a successful day, but not exactly beautiful weather. Maybe next year it will be a little more about the race, and less about meteorology.

Another down day on Wall Street. Haven't I said that too much recently? Anyway, this downturn has lots of permutations. And the showman Jim Cramer popped up on The Today Show this morning and made noise about people needing to get out of the market if they thought they needed assets within five years. Talk about stoking the fire. I had three calls today in which his comments were part of the discussion. The guy is a hack.

I'm not a fan of Dancing with the Stars, but a story on the sports wires today has Misty May Treanor (of Olympic bikini volleyball fame) dropping from the show because of injury. She ruptured her left Achilles tendon while rehearsing a "jive" dance. (The definition of jive dance being a mystery to me.) Her comment describing the injury, "I was taking a step and I felt like someone hit me in the back of my leg", was the same description that my pal Pete gave when his popped in a pick-up basketball game a couple years back on the hard court at Carver Hawkeye.

I have a little trip down to Burlington in the AM for the funeral of a friend's mother. I have a lot going on this week, and the trip is inconvenient, but in the long run, the funeral will always be more important than pushing some paperwork back at the office. With a cell phone from the road, you really don't have to be out of contact for very long.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday PM

Just a few extra lines this evening.

Congrats to 1.1 on his completion of the TC Marathon. In 4:11. Way to go, Matt!! If 1 gets me a photo, I'll get it up to honor our finisher.

I got my annual dose of Yule astonishment today when I stopped at Lowe's garden shop to pick up some Fall lawn fertilizer. The inside portion of the garden shop has been fully stocked and set up with Christmas ornaments/displays/fake trees/and everything else Christmas. Holiday sales are a big key for retailers, and it always amazes me at how early the shelves turn those festive red and green colors.

With the economy in the tank, I guess converting over to Christmas inventory is a natural response to try to boost sales. The stores have nothing to lose, except maybe they bring December sales in a little early. With the hope that the new year will be better. Biz is a beach.

The mistake I made with Direct TV was trying to get the change done by email (initially), and then when not sitting in front of the affected set when I tried to get Customer Service to fix their original fix. Once I got a technician on the phone while I was in front of the TV, she was able to dial into my receiver and make the necessary adjustment.

I also learned that if I ever decide to go HD, I'll need to spend more money with DirectTV to upgrade their equipment as well. Surprise me.

Hope everyone has a great week.

BCOT

Sunday AM

Here's to 4 as Daughter of the Day. We did Dad's Day in IC yesterday with her sorority. Rather than an evening soiree or a home game tailgate party, they bought out a local bar and had an away game "Watch the Game Together" lunch gig. It worked out pretty well except that the bar was understaffed and it took forever to get our sandwiches served.

I took a pass on the evening "apartment crawl" (as compared to a downtown pub crawl). Since I wasn't going to be staying in town over night, I figured that I didn't need the additional liquid refreshments.

As of now, Chicago is a combined "Oh for the 2008 post-season" in baseball. I guess that I didn't expect the Cubs to win the World Series, but I didn't expect them to get swept in three by the Dodgers either. The bats didn't show up, the gloves were iffy, and the pitchers were so-so. And Torre out-managed Pinella. It all adds up to, "Wait'll next year". Again.

Things got a little chippy at the end of the ND-Stanford game yesterday. I don't like to see that kind of extra-curricular activity, but it does remind me of a comment in a Sports Illustrated article following that ND-Miami game from 15-20 years ago where there were several cases of near-fisticuffs. The writer concluded his observations about that part of the game by saying something to the effect that, "Football is a rough game that is best played by nasty young men." If the Irish have managed to now find a few nastier players, maybe they'll be able to compete with the big boys again.

My DVR saga goes on. The latest email communication suggests that they are eventually going to get it right. Interesting to read comments from AM and Carrie about their positive experiences. For me, there just isn't anything on that is worthy of the effort.

More later today.

BCOT

Thursday

For the record, I'm watching the Cubs, not the debate. As far as I'm concerned, all of the politicians ought to be tossed out with the bathwater.

The new shoes came in today and I took them out for a shakedown cruise tonight. I think that I'll add some heel inserts to build up the support even a bit further (as I have in my last couple pair of running shoes). I'm thinking that good shoes are more important to a runner than a fancy bike is to a cyclist. Running is harder on the body than is cycling and the pounding that results from every stride needs to be dissipated and or otherwise muted.

The shoe manufacturers make new models annually of most of their good selling shoes. I'm sure that some of it is because of technological improvements. But a big part of it is pure marketing, as fashion is in play as well. This is Saucony's Progrid Omni 7. I think my first pair years ago was just called the Progrid Omni.

In other news, I've made a modification on my DirectTV subscription, and have now managed to render one of my TV's inoperable. Basically, I have my bill paid automatically from a credit card, and I get an ebill that I don't always review. I checked it this time and was reminded that I was/am paying $6 a month for a DVR that I have never used. So I went online and requested advice on how to change my deal to eliminate that fee. Several hours later, I got a nice response saying that the change had already been made. Very efficient.

Of course, when I got home and tried to fire up the living room TV, which is wired through the DVR (which had been taken off line), all I got was the dreaded blue screen. And I couldn't even get the black box from my basement set to work on the upstairs set as the TV's are of different vintages and have different connection points.

So I've moved my downstairs TV to my living room and now have no service downstairs. I've sent a follow-up email to the DirectTV Help Desk asking for advice. My suspicion is that the advice will be to contact their local independent dealer. Which will likely translate to a service call and the euphemistic "truck charge". Which could the end in a result not unlike the guy who didn't try to retrieve his spouse's stolen credit card because the thief was spending less than his wife. To be continued.

I think that it is awful that they have the Cubs playing a post-season game starting at 8:45 PM. For crying out loud, its on cable. Against the VP debate. And anything after 10 PM is out of my time zone anyway. I can't believe that they'll get that many more viewers than if they showed a fortieth rerun of an episode of Law and Order SVU. Another example of a major sports league selling it's soul to the TV devils.

1.1 is doing the TC marathon on Sunday. 2 and Mom are headed up tomorrow to join 1 as the support crew. (My schedule, including an IC commitment on Saturday with 4, is just too cluttered to make the trip North.) Last year was that ugly heat day and bad memories. I think that Sunday should be a lot better. So go out there 1.1 and have a day! Sorry I won't be there to lead the crew.

I may get an entry in on Friday. Tuscan red or not.

BCOT

Monday

-777


Wow! What a day. For someone who works in the financial services business, it was like being in the cast of a bad play in a low-rent, off-Broadway theater. Nobody wants to be there, but no one is quite sure how to make a proper exit.

None of the politicians have anything to be proud of. If we end up with an agreement that passes both chambers on Thursday, as is now expected, make no mistake that today was all about politics, not economics. Or statesmanship.

Another of my heretofore favorite actresses, Ashley Judd, made the video news with an anti McCain-Palin rant over the weekend, based largely on the "true" feminists' rallying point of abortion. I'm running out of fantasy fav's. Can't they just be satisfied with making a bunch of money with nominal acting skills?

Despite the Major League's season being officially over yesterday, the White Sox won a make-up game today against Cleveland that earned them the right to play the Twins in a one-game playoff tomorrow in Chicago for the American Central division title. That's one of the amazing things about baseball; they play 162 games over the course of six months, and after all that, they play one game for the prize. The same thing happened last year in the National West.

(The Cubs had a game against the Astros that didn't get played after the season as a win or loss would have made no difference in the standings for either team or any other team. Another of the minutiae rules of baseball.)

Happy Rosh Hashanah to all of my Jewish readers.

Here's a thought about how the rising costs of health care might be better controlled. I just watched a "soft news" piece by 4's favorite local Channel 6 reporter, Fran Riley, about the savings that people can achieve at the grocery store. Customers commented about clipping coupons, buying "store" brands, and watching for "sales". Compare that with the "shopping" that is done (or not done) by consumers or third-party payers for medical services.

While everyone complains about the increase in health care costs, at least some of the abuse of the current system can be traced to the fact that "the insurance company" pays the bill. The consumer may be picking up part of the monthly premium at work, and the deductible and the co-pay, but the big number goes to the carrier for settlement.

The doctors cry about their level of reimbursement compared to the fee charged. I want them to be well paid. Wealthy even. But I want them, the hospitals, and other medical services providers to be subject to the free enterprise system as well.

Did that put everyone to sleep?

Have a great day.

BCOT

Sunday

Today is the running of the QC Marathon. The image is a little vague, but it was all I could get off the site. 2 and I went down to Bettendorf to catch the runners as they came in from Illinois this morning, most specifically to see her friend from the museum. And I saw several of my buds as well. It was a much better day for running than last year when 1.1 and 2 did the half and 1 bullied her way in the heat for the full.

This is not an official Sunday as we did a pass-through at SB's before the race, but didn't even sit down. And I'm doing this entry from home. No NYT to get my dosage from the Left. but I briefly had the tube on NBC, so its not like I was totally without.

Here's a little recognition for Paul Newman, the actor who passed away Friday at age 83. He lived a full life and seemed to have a pretty good handle on who he was, and wasn't. He didn't stop at acting. Racing. Foodstuff. Philanthropy. (The fact that he was an off-the-far-edge liberal is no longer relevant. He called his making Nixon's "Enemies List" as one of his greatest accomplishments.)

These posters represent four of his more memorable roles. Not being much of a movie-goer in recent decades, I think it would be fair to say that he, along with Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, would be on the short list of my all-time favorite actors. (Maybe Redford too, but his politics get in the way. Three Days of the Condor is a big offset to the positive.)

I think that the phrase coming out of Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate", is one of the Top Ten phrases in our culture in the last , say, 50 years.

(The change in fonts is an accident. And I have tried to correct the difference from normal, but my techno-skills have maxed out at just getting the entry entered. Maybe tomorrow. Getting those pics lined up in a sort of order was no small fete.)

2 and 3 have been enjoying the home-ownership and living on your own benefits. Painting. Clogged bathroom issues. Never a dull moment.

Big win for ND yesterday. Either Purdue was/is really not that good, or the Irish may have something. Saw my pal Pete at the race this morning, and he said that it had been a great game to be at. There were a lot of underdog wins in college football yesterday. Mostly grumbling out of IC for their loss to Northwestern.

I did order a new pair of Saucony's on Friday. The store only had brite-white in stock so I had them order a less-flashy (silver/gray) model of the same shoe. I looked for the shoe at Dick's, but they carried only a couple of lower-priced Saucony running shoes. I'm sure that its a numbers game and it just doesn't pay for them to keep a full line of all brands in inventory. And most of the on-line retailers had my shoe in the high $80's to low $90's, so giving a hundo to Running Wild is OK.

Not much to comment on on the financial mess. The rescue/bailout is now sorting through the political responsibilities. I have put down hard cash with a client that the Big O will win in November. I am convinced that a majority of the 10-15% of Undecideds will ultimately conclude that the Republicans have had their chance, and that The Other Guys should now get theirs.

Hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Thursday

It's Thursday. Do you know if your money's safe?

Another day. Another day of political posturing. Under the assumption that they do figure out a deal, the market is still in for a bumpy ride. Way too many weak points in the broader economy. The "free ride" of easy credit is coming home to roost.

And whatever the circumstances, let's not offend David Letterman.

We had an example in the office today of the difficulty in getting to the paperless society. We have 10 years of files in the basement and have never had them scanned into the computer system. So we need a record from a 2002 tax return, and its, "get out the ladder" to find box #433 on the top shelf of a floor-to-ceiling shelving system.

I think that they actually have companies who go into firm like ours and spend weeks scanning the old files into the servers. Then you can free up the space in the basement and bring in the Foosball table.

I strained my left gastrocnemius muscle last night when doing my run with 2. This is the same injury that I have suffered most every year that I have done training. While I am guilty of the lack of stretching, before and after, I theorize that I'm fine as long as my stride is a "shuffle". If I actually start to simulate a true "running" step, the ole gastro starts to cry out. So my solution is to shuffle.

I've also wondered about my shoes. (Remember the old Jordan-Spike Lee commercials, "Its the shoes"?) I haven't bought new shoes for over four years. A life time to a runner. So I may venture over to Running Wild this weekend and check out some new Saucony's. My pal Pete says that its always the shoes.

Speaking of my pal Pete, he's over at ND this weekend with another lawyer friend at the annual ND Estate Planning Conference. (I attended the same conference a couple of times in the '80's. Its a fairly highly regarded program.) The two of them go every other year or so. Its almost always held the Thursday Friday before a home football game. The Irish have Purdue on Saturday. So the boys'll get to see PU pick apart the ND secondary.

Have a great Friday.

BCOT

Wednesday

I'm thinking that tomorrow is Aunt Marg's 70th birthday. Now that's old.

More of the financial crisis dominating the news today. The hearings on Capital Hill had all the ear markings of partisan politics. Assessing blame, posturing for constituents back home, and generally vilifying Paulson and Bernake were the orders of the day. If they don't wake up and create a plan, the market will not be happy.

Cream for my coffee. I've been meaning to address this topic for quite a while, but it has kept escaping me at the time the fingers hit the keys. Not today.

SBs has the preferred cream situation; half-and-half straight from the dairy case. Cafes and restaurants used to present cream in packaged containers like these in small saucers, often surrounded with ice to keep the creamers chilled. As a dairy product, the cream needed to be kept cool to keep it from spoiling.

For the road, in-room service at hotels, and coffee machines everyplace else, Coffee-Mate came into being. And the world is lesser for it. Powdered creamer. Some varieties were actually packaged in the same shape of containers as the real dairy creamers. Ugh.

Today, lots of the Quick Shops and the like use a liquid substitute for cream that is the equivalent of the powdered cream. And since it really isn't dairy-based, they don't have to worry about refrigeration. It bugs me. I don't know what I'm ingesting, and it has the artificial taste to boot.

I have commented for many years that I would be much better off if I could just enjoy my coffee straight up. But I learned to drink the stuff on Grandpa's lap. And he needed cream and sugar. The cream and sugar don't fall very far from the tree.

I've been stopping at the Duck Creek McDonald's for my morning coffee a couple times a week lately. Their local stores now do not leave any of the cream, sugar or any other packaged condiments out for the taking on the public counters. When they ask if you want cream or sugar in your coffee, they have dispensers adjacent to their coffee machines and they will put the stuff in for you. But they will also honor your request to put it in yourself. And they then provide you with the traditional dairy creamers.

Lance made it official. He's back. He says that his first race will be The Tour Down Under (in Australia) in January. The team, Astana, has too many chiefs. Contador, who won the tours of Italy and Spain this year, and France last year, really should be the leader of the team. Lance ain't coming back to be Number Two.

Have a great day.

BCOT

Tuesday

I'm more than a little disappointed that I'm not in IC tonight. 4 had a conflict. No Airliner pizza for me. :(

Nothing but "Wall Street bailout" on the news the last couple of days. The purists remain irate and want the ship to crash and burn so that the Phoenix can eventually rise from the ashes. While that path would likely prove, in the long run, that the free market system works, there would be a lot of collateral damage along Main Street in the short run.

OK. Its official. Galveston is requesting $2.2 billion for reconstruction. According to that pillar of factual information, the NYT, that request works out to about $37K per resident. Why not? The folks living below sea level in New Orleans are still at the Federal teat. Or is that, trough?

Here's a good one. Chicago's Mayor Daley wants the bars around Wrigley (and Sox Park if they get in to the playoffs) to stop serving beer after the 7th inning to try to keep a lid on rowdiness among the fans. Let's see. On what will most certainly be one (or more) of the most exciting days around the ball park, the Mayor wants the bar owners to cap their profits at seven innings worth. Only a PC politician could come up with that one.

Let's see. Biden can't shut up. Palin won't talk. Both are hung out to dry by the Fourth Estate. Arguably, each side could use a little of the other.

How 'bout this? From the distinct philosophical leanings of the Hollywood crowd, is it any surprise that the West's Washington-Oregon-California border is often referred to as the Left Coast?

On the Inflation Front. I used to buy those tart, green Granny Smith apples at HyVee for $1.29 a pound, maybe 3-4 years ago. The price inched up over time, and they kind of went off my radar screen when they regularly got to $1.89 - 1.99. The price tonight: $2.69. ExxonMobile's got nothin' on HyVee.

One of the Midwest's rural-oriented retailers is called Blain's Farm & Fleet. It sells a variety of hardware, tools, automotive equipment and lots of other stuff used around the home, garage and farm. I always thought that "Blain" was some guy's first name. Turns out that "Blain" was a couple of brothers' last name. Given the propensity of today's parents to pick gender-neutral and family surnames as first names, tomorrow's store owners will be even less easy to identify.

Hope everyone has a great day.

BCOT

Sunday PM

Here's to the USA team on their victory in the Ryder Cup, the biannual golfing competition between the US and Europe. I spent a few more hours in front of the TV today, and while today's singles matches (one-on-one) definitely had excitement, it wasn't quite at the same level as yesterday's two-man theater (two-on-two).

For the shallow-golf-knowledge crowd, the Ryder Cup is one of the few times where scores are maintained on a, "who wins the hole", or match scoring basis. In the regular weekly tour events, scores are maintained on a "stroke play" basis: lowest cumulative score after four rounds wins. In match play, you can just totally screw up one hole, but you only lose that hole. If you play lights out the next hole, you can win that hole and cancel out the poorly played hole. If you win more holes than the other guy in the 18 hole match, you win one point for the team. If you tie, you each get a half point. There are 28 matches scheduled over the three days. The first team to 14 1/2 points wins the Cup. (There are a few more rules, but that's the gist of it.)

BBQ over at 2's tonight. She's trying to get prepared to entertain a few friends later this week, and she isn't exactly an experienced chef on the grill. We did chicken breasts and asparagus. Not bad.

I'm boycotting Sunday Night Football on NBC. (I'm not that big of an NFL fan to start with, but that's not the point.) They advertised their broadcast of tonight's game so many times during the golf, that if they were held to human standards, they would have been written up for public indecency. Of course, their rah-rah studio crew includes Kieth Olbermann, and I refuse to watch or listen to him spout his elitist gibberish.

In case you missed it, Europe's new Super Collider is broken. I'm not sure what it does, but it sounds like a lot of pork-barrel funding. I wouldn't be surprised if they found some US dollars behind it. We back everything.

So have a great week.

BCOT

Sunday

This really should have been written yesterday. I got hooked on watching the Ryder Cup golf matches all day yesterday and was as unproductive as a person can get on a weekend day. Hardly made it off the couch. And, fortunately, missed most of the Iowa and ND football losses.

Here's a little love to RevKev for his documented ride up Mt. Diablo. Personally, I go into training for a period of months before I try riding the mountains. But I'm old and less bold. (There's that adage that has application here: "You have old riders. And you have bold riders. But you don't have old, bold riders.")

This is a Sunday at SBs. Lousy music. Is eclectic part of their corporate mission statement?

For those into astronomy, we are at (or almost at) the autumnal equinox. I read the Wikipedia definition, and I still don't understand it. I know that it has to do with the position of the sun in relation to the Earth's equator, but the math befuddles me. Technically, I think that its the time that you're supposed to go from the searsucker sports coat to the camel hair or tweed.

This should be an interesting week for the politicians. The Federal bailout of the financial industry will be widely debated among the pundits and sages. Truthfully, it may be years before we know whether the action will be successful, or the costs. The shorts, hedge fund managers, and free market fundamentalists are p...ed off. Wreckless lenders, bankers, borrowers, investors, insurers, and regulators (all of whom except maybe the most naive of the borrowers should have known better) are getting a modified "do-over".

But Washington was caught in the unenviable position of the rock and the hard place. To do nothing would likely have accelerated a strong downturn, and immediate financial losses for most people on Main Street. But the action to step in and call this "time out" flies in the face of the free market. Lots of critics on either side. But while the academicians may want Uncle Sam to stay out of the way, Main Street has more voters, most of whom are crying, "uncle".

Obama will paint this as a Bush-inspired catastrophe. (Shocking!) McPalin will refer to the Clinton's and the Democratic-controlled Congress. (Equally shocking!) This Friday's debate is supposed to be on foreign policy, but I suspect that it will trend toward the economic mess as there are huge implications on the world's economy from the sub-prime black hole.

In much more-upbeat news, the Cubs clinched their division yesterday at Wrigley with a win over the Cards. My suspicion is that there were a few adult beverages consumed in the establishments around Wrigleyville last night. That would have been a good place to be.

Pretty quiet in Boston and IC. What's going on?

More later.

BCOT

Thursday

4 seemed to have a good time at the rally this AM. Although Palin did open up her remarks by saying how happy she was to be in "Grand" Rapids. And I think she mis-named the local hockey team. Still waiting on the report.

Another 35 minute training run tonight. Lots of ibuprofen and a tight leg sleeve left over from the ACL surgery. Not bad results.

My pal Bill heads over to South Bend tomorrow to watch his son run in a major cross country meet at ND. I can honestly say that I didn't know that ND had a cross country team during my four years there. I'm not sure if I even knew that there was a sport called cross country. (I did know some "track" guys.) I've given Bill instructions on where to find my name on the letter winners list in the basketball arena complex.

My neighbors are having a fish fry at their place tomorrow night. They caught some trout up in northeast Iowa last month and are grilling a mess up on their grill for a few neighbors and friends. I still remember one particular "shore lunch" cooked up by our guide on the one Canadian fishing trip I took with the guys as still being one of my Top Ten best meals, ever.

Huge win at Wrigley for the Cubs today. Four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie, and a two-out single in the twelfth to win. The magic number is down to two.

Wall Street went on another roller coaster ride today, this time ending the day on an up note. The uptick was driven by the word that the regulators and politicians were getting together to come up with a comprehensive plan to address the major issues. I never have a great deal of confidence when a bunch of legislators have an impromptu presentation in a Capital Hill hallway expressing their commitment to quickly work out a solution to a national crisis level problem. When said gang is led by Nancy Pelosi, expectations need to be ratcheted down a few more notches.

Is there any possibility that cell phone use will be banned by all operators of cars, boats and planes? I see where California has banned train engineers from cell phone use while on duty as a result of the train crash last week. Its a lay-up. But there will be interest groups that will argue against such a ban, the same way the NRA argues against gun regulations, and the ACLU argues for the right to burn the flag.

I haven't been able to keep up on the latest O.J. Simpson trial.

I'm thinking that it will be a Margret day tomorrow.

BCOT

Wednesday

Another brutal date on Wall Street. I wouldn't normally add a cartoon this size to the blog, but this one hits most of the points from my earlier comments on the credit crisis, and I wanted the caption in the upper left to be readable. And it gives appropriate credit to most of the players in the mortgage food chain.

Of course, the politicians are continuing their finger-pointing, each to the other side. As though this all evolved last week. Bottom line: I suspect that the mess helps the Dems. Since the GOP has the White House currently, the natural reaction of the public is to say, "Let the other guys give it a shot."

My Turkey Trot training is off to a slow start. I had forgotten that I had received a cortisone shot in my right knee last Spring after experiencing some pain. The actual diagnosis then was a meniscus problem, but the Doc suggested a cortisone shot as an alternative to a "scope procedure. I don't think that the shot really helped that much, but the knee really never gave me that much of a problem cycling (since there's not the impact or twisting to the joint). And I had no interest in more medical work being done on me. We'll see if ibuprofen can control the pain. I'll be real upset if it becomes intolerable.

4 says that she is headed to Cedar Rapids early tomorrow for the McCain-Palin rally. I'll be interested in a report.

I took off from work early yesterday so that I could mowed my yard before heading over to IC. To preclude a messy looking yard after the fact, I had to raise the deck on the mower and catch the clippings because the grass was so long. And I'll have to mow again Saturday to get the grass down to the regular level. Home ownership is a beach. But it is September, and I'm guessing that the number of mowing events for the rest of the year is in the single digits. The glass is half full.

I am now the owner of a Napa Valley grape-colored cycling jersey. Compliments of my pal Roy from his trip there last week. He figured that a cycling wine snob like me needed the new look. I'll be making good use of it...next year.

I was wrong last week about Tuesday and Wednesday being the only nights without football. ESPN2 had a game tonight between K State and L'ville.

Isn't rebuilding Galveston Island a little like betting on a will-won't proposition? I mean, building homes on stilts, on the beach, in a traditional hurricane zone, is just testing likelihoods, isn't it? Maybe Vegas will establish an "over-under" line on how long a newly constructed place there will last. I suppose that the insurance companies actually have to do just that. And in that regard, I suppose that any insurance company that sharpens the pencil and elects to stop writing these types of policies in Texas will be accused of discrimination.

Some other possible over-under bets:

1. Trailer home in Oklahoma.
2. Any Hollywood marriage.
3. An NBA coach's tenure.
4. Latest-greatest cell phone.
5. Episodes of a new 1/2 hour comedy.

Looks like great weather through the weekend. Get out there and enjoy it.

BCOT