Friday

So I've been off line for a few days as I have recovered from the April 15th due date.  Then there was the dash to the Twin Cities for 1.01's baptism.  And an attempt to get a biking schedule established.  Lousy excuses for not writing, but it is was it is.

Here's a little three-generation shot from the baptism.  1.01 was a star.  1 has indicated that the excitement of the days over that weekend made 1.01 sleep most of the nights.  Not the worst result.

This past Monday, I joined with three of my pals for a little golf outing for the PV school district Foundation.  The weather was great compared to prior years when we had snow, rain and wind.  We even had our jackets off for parts of this round.

I end up doing at least a couple of these charity outings each year, but I turn down most requests (and just send a check).  The formats are almost always "scrambles" which are essentially a "best-ball" competitions.  The events are set up as fund-raisers and winning is usually just a conversational topic.  But some teams get very motivated to score.  In the Monday event for example, we played pretty well, finished 8 under par, and trailed the winners by 11 strokes!  Do the math.  A round of golf has only 18 holes.

So yes, I did get a lock on my house after all these years.  The motivation was/is an assumed theft on Monday night of my not-so-smart phone.  While I was downstairs changing for bed.  I keep going over the facts, but I haven't been able to come up with a more rational explanation for the phone's disappearance.  Unless the phone walked off my counter or kitchen table on it's own, or fell into an unknown chasm in my kitchen, it was lifted by an uninvited guest.  Bummer.

I had my handiman put a new dead-bolt on my back door yesterday after failing to find a functional key for any of my existing locks.  I mean I looked in every nook and cranny, junk drawer and collection dish in the house to no avail.  Of course, last night when I was sliding the new key on to my keyrings, I did find the missing key.  I mean, why would it be on my key ring?  Now I'm curious of at least one other key on the ring for whose purpose I am clueless. 

I'm pretty sure that this has taken me past Sometimer's Disease.

Bike planning is now on Page One of the leaderboard of LtPC's schedule.  Mileage needs to go up on the weekends if the TOMRV ride in early June is going to be something less than painful.  That's 85 to Galena on Saturday, and again on the Sunday return ride, maybe.  (Keep in mind that I haven't done the Sunday portion of TOMRV for several years.  But there may be a couple of pals this year who may ride just the Sunday leg.)

Last night's ride in the wind was a little exciting when you had anything going South.  Like riding in molasses.  You know that you have a mental problem when you can't take a day off with those conditions outside. 

3's entries on her blog recently have been good ones.

Today was a bit of an anniversary for myself.  I had the planning meeting this morning over at Augie that was the same function that I had attended 14 months ago and then had the car accident on my way home to change from my suit to jeans.  (I go through that intersection everyday, and I always remember the crash.)

I think 2 got my pics from last weekend up on to her Walgreen's account.  There's another set from the mini-digi that I'll have her post later today.  There are some good ones, but the lighting in the church made really good ones difficult.

No big plans for the weekend.  Hope to hit the blog with lots of wisdom.

BCOT

Thursday

Can't say that Earth Day has inspired me to "green up".  I don't mind recycling paper, glass, aluminum/tin, and plastic items.  That just makes sense.  I'll even take my own bags to the grocery on occasion.  But I'm a bit hooked on bottled water, and I don't lose a lot of sleep over the melting (?) icepack.  I'm guessing that the waste from one of the manure pits at one of the thousands of commercial feeder cattle operations creates a bigger challenge than the environmental damage I can wreak with my Dasani footprint.

Enjoyed 3's second recent contribution to the blogshere this week.  I'm guessing that she and 4 could provide a regular stream of entertainment if they could just make the commitment to write. 

One of the discouraging elements of blogging is that it can be a bit difficult to find some original thoughts on a daily basis, and we all know that just a drone about what you're doing loses the audience quickly.  And you often struggle with the idea that what might be appealing to your readers needs to be better than whatever it is that you have come up with that day. On that last point, my philosophy is, "This what I've got today. That's what you're getting."

The Top Ten lists, the interviews, and the stories from the farm are all efforts to keep some ideas flowing.  Obviously, some days (and some ideas) work better than others.  Writer's Block is real.

Shifting gears...

Spending my weekday evening rides on the bike path exposes me to the various levels of consciousness (or lack thereof) and me-isms that have always bugged me regarding bike path protocols.  I generally exclude the elderly and the under (say) 8-year olds from my criticisms.  My expectations on the thought processes of these two groups are not high.  I'm glad to see them using the path.  But I find examples almost daily of folks who should know better essentially elevating their own priority above all other users. 

I'm thinking that cyclists are the worst offenders.  At 5:30 in the evening when the path is probably at it's highest usage, you get speed freaks weaving in and out of traffic calling out, "Coming through" and expecting the seas to part.  And then you have inexperienced adult riders not slowing down, and expecting on-coming walkers to step off the path when the cyclists have crossed the center line to pass other walkers.  The speed freaks are thoughtless jerks.  The inexperienced casual riders are just ignorant.  Whatever.

Bit the bullet Tuesday and put new tires on the Buick.  I replaced the original tires that had 47,000 miles on the tread.  My right front had had a slow leak that required frequent input of air.  And the sensors on all of the tires routinely registered on the dash display, "Check blankety-blank's air pressure".  I was tired of the warnings, and had previously committed to myself that I would be swapping out the tires this Summer.  Needing to put in air in the right front again on Monday night tipped the scales to do the deed now.

Of course, the Buick has 18 inch wheels, an uncommon size.  Which, of course translates to more expensive tires.  While you can usually get a decent 15 or 16 inch diameter tire for $50-75, these 18 inchers came in at a cool $200.  Suite.  I initially thought I'd get just the two fronts replaced, but that made little sense.  So do the math.  Including an oil change, shop supplies (?) and taxes...$1,000.  Double suite.

The absolute best part of the experience was that when I jumped in the car Wednesday afternoon after work and fired 'er up, I got the, "Check Right Front Air Pressure" warning on the dash.  Triple suite.  Life is just too good.

So, in keeping with my earlier comment, that's all I've got for today.  Read it and weep.

BCOT

Tuesday

Another beautiful Spring day in River City.

I've had the IRS in the office yesterday afternoon and this morning.  A gal from C-town had drawn a Rock Island client for an employee benefit plan audit on a pension plan that our firm has administered for many years.  I lobbied her hard upon original receipt of the audit notice last month that the Service should spend their time and energy elsewhere: a companion plan at the same employer had been through a detailed audit (with no changes) less than five years ago.  Obviously, my arguments fell on deaf ears.

The long and the short of her examination?  No changes, but the agent looked where she needed to (I had the Under on the bet as to whether she was with-it enough to catch the weak link), and I need to send her a supporting schedule to back up one of the client's calculations.  Little damage, and it's always good to see the IRS go home.

I also have a favorable follow-up report on the surprise Direct TV billing last month for the auto-renewal of the NCAA Tourney package.  A call to D-TV Customer Service today eventually got me to a representative who lent a forgiving ear to my plight.  My plea was basically that I didn't know that I was on auto-renewal (since I obviously didn't didn't read the fine print a year ago), and the bill is also on auto-pay (and was in fact paid before I even saw the bill).

The long and the short here?  I didn't even have to go to Argument (Plan?) B before I got a $15 per month discount on my existing service over the next 12 months.  (I would've settled for three months of an HBO package.)  Some days things work out better than on other days. Suite.

The Direct TV matter came up today after I found my over-due AmEx bill buried in a stack of pre-April 15th junk on my desk. (I remember saying to myself, "Self, you need to call DTV to protest that bill".  What that had to do with AmEx is an example of my early-April synapses disconnections.)  I still have un-reviewed stuff in the same stack that I need to go through tomorrow.

A little excitement on my 16+ mile ride on the bike path tonight.  I went down for the first time this year.  Rule #1 lives.  No damage, except to my ego.  I went a little hot into a slightly down-sloped curve near Middle Park just as an oncoming rider was hitting the same curve.  That forced the apex of my line onto the dirt edge of the path and I just couldn't quite keep the bike upright.  With nothing but grass on my right, and a somewhat controlled lay-down move in mind, I instinctively unclipped my left foot and executed a perfect reverse-shoulder-slide.

I was down less than 30 seconds, didn't even lose the chain, and was rolling before I had to answer the inevitable, "You okay?" question from concerned (laughing?) passer-by's. No blood.  No torn clothing.  And most importantly, no broken bike parts.  The lesson?  Slow down, even (especially) on the bike path.

Then, just a couple of minutes later, I had the presence of mind to check my rear shirt pockets for my phone and the mini camera.  Yes for the camera.  No for the phone.  So I beat feet back to the scene of the crime, and luckily found the phone in the grass a few feet off the path.  Also undamaged.  (Now I'm considering shirts with zip-pockets or putting the electronics in the seat-bag.)

If you do the math, the fall/crash has to go in the bucket for negatives, but just about everything else came out positive.  For being careless, this was about as good as you can get.

Shifting gears...no pun intended...

A final point to ponder.  From baseball.  If there's two out in the inning, and the eighth-place hitter is up, is it better for the team in the field for the batter to make an out and therefore make the pitcher lead-off the next inning?  Or is is okay if the hitter gets on base, and makes the pitcher get up off the bench and take his licks?  (Of course, this question only applies to Real baseball as played in the National League.)  Confidence is high that I could write a pretty long blog on this question by itself.  And they say baseball is boring!

So have a great Wednesday.  But...

BCOT

Monday

So today is Grandpa Phil's 100th Birthday.  Wow!  Happy Birthday, Daddy!  It's a wonderful life you gave us.

Every one of you in the peanut gallery needs to give a nod to the guy who started it all.

Make it a great day!

BCOT

Sunday

The new picture is one that I took with my not-so-smart phone on my first road ride today out to McCausland.  The hill is a good one, maybe a half mile long or so, and one that I have climbed at least a couple dozen times a year since I became a road cyclist.  Today, I actually went down it, and came back on a parallel hill on a route a couple miles to the West.  It's real road-ridin'.

3 reports that she did a 5K in Beantown this AM, after a late evening of champagne-shrimp.  You da' girl!  And Daughter of the Day for the effort.  The race was a fun-run held the weekend before tomorrow's Boston Marathon, and finished at the marathon's finish line.  Very cool.  (Bonus points to 3 for getting back on her blog last week too.)

The Country Music Awards show is on this evening.  Pretty sad to admit that I have little clue about many of the nominated artists.  Then again, I really don't spend much time listening to the radio any more.  My hey-day for country music was when I spent a lot of time in the car, or working on house projects for our first home in Davenport.  All that, plus the fact that the music has progressed to a lot more pop-rock and New Age stuff that doesn't do anything for me.  Sorry, Taylor.  (What ever happened to Shania?)

Interesting ending to the golf tournament today.  In a two-man play-off, a guy named Brian Davis (whom I have never heard of) was playing multi-PGA-tournament winner Jim Furyk.  On the first play-off hole, Davis' approach shot went on to the beach next to the green.  He had a shot, but the ball was sitting near some reedy-type grasses.  He decided to try the shot rather than take a one-stroke penalty since Furyk looked like he had a par in the bag. 

Davis' shot got to the green, but it was a long putt for a possible tying par.  But before that attempt, Davis did what is done in no other sport.  He called a penalty on himself because he had hit one of the reeds on his back swing.  End of tournament.  He gets a nod on 4000 Days for keeping golf's integrity far above other competitions.

Then you have baseball.  The Cards played a 20 inning game last night.  They used 10 pitchers!  A utility infielder actually pitched the last two innings.  At least twice in the extra innings, with chances to win the game, the Cards had their pitchers hit with the bases loaded, either because they had no one else to come in to pitch, or they were out of pinch hitters. It went on for like seven hours.  No way would I have stayed past the seventh inning.

Speaking of baseball, I am definitely getting out to Omaha for the College World Series this year.  I thought those games were in May, but I just checked the schedule and the dates are June 19th to 29th.  I'm guessing that the end of that first week will be my choice, but I'm flexible.  Takers?

Still trying to get a handle on the Icelandic ash cloud.  If flights in Europe are all canceled because of the volcano, is there anyway that I could use the problem to get help with late tax payments for my clients?

So I am committing to ride Mt. Rose that week after the reunion, probably the Thursday the 15th.  That means I have around 80 days to train for Tahoe.  I'm going to have to put some thought into my training schedule so that I can be ready for the challenge.

With April 15th behind us, I hope to get back on a more regular program for the blog.  Funny how much energy Tax Day sucks out of you.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Friday

Here's a couple of pics from last night's party.  My pal Bill, 2, and the obligatory photo op of me with the pretty server.

Thursday

Headed out for some vino.

Y'all have a great day.

BCOT

Wednesday

In a bit of family nuances, today is actually tax-Tax Day. 

(It takes an official insider to get that one!)

BCOT

Monday II

This really isn't a posting.  Here's a little tribute to Phil and Margaret in advance of their April 13th wedding anniversary.  74 years.

Pretty quiet out there. 

The other Margret is out on her first Spring ride today

BCOT

Monday AM

So anyway, my time over the next couple of days will be limited.  Plus, I've sent my laptop to the TC with SRH so I don't have the option to get online in the evening.  This sounds like an opportunity for others in the peanut gallery to add some lengthy comments.  I'll get a short post up each morning to start the thread.

Mowed my yard for the first time yesterday.  I noticed that most of the new plants that the landscape guy put in last Fall are off to a slow or no start.  Not exactly the plan.

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

This was a scene just off the bike path around 7 this evening.  There were a couple of groups toward the East end of the path, with a total of twelve or so animals.  My not-so-smart camera phone didn't allow much of a shot.  I'm going to start carrying the mini like I did last year.

They're laying fiber-optic cable in the parking on our street.  Pretty efficient program with just a couple of guys and a machine that strings 3-inch PVC pipe several inches below ground.  I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I'm off to bed.  Didn't sleep well last night, and I need to catch up.  Busy day with more returns tomorrow.  And hopefully, another 25 miles on the bike.

BCOT

Thursday

 Another day of just a few lines.  It's that time of year.

The Winniferous again spent the night last night with SRH.  I sleep like crap with her in the house.  SRH is used to late night conversations with her girls.  But it was my turn for exercise responsibility.  But it was a misty, rainy evening, so the dogpark was not an option.  So W and I did three miles on Devil's Glen to 53rd and back.  The weather didn't slow her down a lick.  I was again reminded of the hammy, groin, achilles, and a new one, the left gastrocnemius.  (Look it up. Actually, I think I've mentioned it here a year or two ago.)

I've had The Masters on in the background as I worked this afternoon.  Tiger is in the hunt.  (Insert your favorite joke here.)  Actually, the great stories of the day are Tom Watson and Fred Couples, two older guys who are at the top of the leaderboard.  But in golf terms, there's an enternity to go yet. You can lose this tournament on Thursday and Friday by playing poorly, but without a doubt, this is a tournament that is won on the back nine on Sunday afternnon.

I'm headed to Trivia Night over at the high school as a favor to my pal Ron.  I mean, it's not like I volunteered on this one.  Hopefully, they won't be using questions from the modern version of Trivial Pursuit.  And that it won't go on all night.  My attention span may not last long.

In a truly shocking dose of reality, I learned last night that my next-door neighbor (not my perfect neighbor; the other-side-guy) passed away two nights ago.  Age 60.  Cancer.  He was an odd guy.  Kept to himself, his yard, and his family.  Not unfriendly, just not out-going.  Hadn't seen him much this Winter, but you don't see many people because of the short days, the cold, and the lack of kids to keep contact opportunities present.

Age 60.

Live life people.  Don't wait to do something later.  Later may not come.

City on the Truckee.  Tibetan ox.  Asian nurse.  Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

I'm ready.

BCOT

Tuesday

Just a few lines tonight to keep the thread open.

I had no better than so-so sleep last night with The Winniferous in the house.  Literally. When the time came to turn out the lights, she got real anxious, started growling, and then barking.  Which woke up a couple of other dogs in the neighborhood.  I theorized that she was experiencing a dog's case of Sundowner's Syndrome.  I first heard of Sundowner's when I was taking care of Margaret in those later years.

The long and the short of Sundowner's is that the elderly, particularly those with some dementia, get confused and agitated late in the day.  Being in strange places and mixed-up body rhythms probably contribute to the condition.  I'm not sure if there is a medical analysis on this or not.  And I'm not saying that Winnie has mental problems.  But her being in unfamiliar surroundings definitely had her a bit off kilter.

The track meet tonight was enjoyable, but hard on my back.  I stood for the whole three hours.  As track meets go, if was reasonably efficient.  Just four schools, just boys, and few events had more than a couple of races.  No pre-lims leading to finals.  The biggest problem I had was my need to lift my glasses to read the line-up sheets as the runners checked in.  And the tracksters were easy to work with.  Just a couple occurences of, "Oops, when's my race?"  I'll probably help out again at future meets.

I have no problem with Duke and UConn winning their titles.  I actually thought that the Butler kid had made the baseline, fall-away jumper.  I said, "Jimmy Chitwood lives" as the shot went up.  That would have made that kid a basketball  icon for the rest of his life.  The Duke and UConn teams are made up of players, not "I'm the star" individuals.  I've never been a big fan of Coach K, but his teams compete.  (And 3 needed the Dukies to ring the bell to collect the cash!).

Could care less about Tiger's news conference.

Still lots to do at the office.  I'll be glad when we get past the 15th.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

Had great expectations to be here yesterday, but ran into some bad shrimp while watching the games last night.

Lightening, thunder and rain on Easter evening here.  The grass will likely need mowing by the end of the week.  Not-so-suite.

Again got outside on the bike for both weekend days.  20 on Saturday and 26 today.  Still on the bike paths.  Windy today and on the simple out-and-back route, we cruised going, and got killed fighting it coming home.  But we also beat the rain and treated ourselves with a late lunch of a classic tenderloin at the 11th Street Precinct. Suite.

2 has relocated to the TC this week to attend to 1.01 while 1 heads back to work.  That means that The Winniferous is camping with SRH and LtPC for the next few days.  Unfortunately, the rain today kept us from getting her the right amount of exercise.  And the dog park may not be a great option as I don't do doggy baths.

Watching UConn - Baylor in the women's Final Four.  Looks like a full house at The Alamodome.  Which is good to see.  I'm thinking that they need to do a DNA test on Baylor's 6'8" Brittney Griner.  This is the gal who punched out another player last month and got a puny two-game suspension.  She certainly has the deep voice of a male.

I got a call from the PV High School AD over the weekend looking for help at a track meet on Tuesday aftrernoon/evening.  I'm thinking that my pal Ron volunteered my name.  Anyway, I'm going to be Clerk of the Course for the meet.  That's the guy to whom runners report to get staged for the next race and to get their lane assignments.  It's a good job because you're always busy.  (It's a good job as long as it isn't cold and doesn't rain.)

Opening Day (Night?) for Major League Baseball tonight with the Yankees playing the Sox in Boston.  (I remember a couple of Opening Days at Wrigley in the late '70's.  We had a client who had the Old Style beer distributorship that supplied Wrigley, and we just had to be there for a few games to supervise the beer stands.)   I'm thinking that maybe ESPN may have had some say on which teams opened the season.  Too bad 3 is sipping Margaritas on the patio in Colorado.  Or not.

The same USA Today Life section that had the picture of the local ballpark also had a brief story and picture of the church in Turin, Italy where The Shroud resides.  I noted the copy as 2 and I were at the church in September (when The Shroud was not on display).  The cathedral is pretty ordinary in appearance.  As was much of Turin.  Kind of cool to have walk the piazza where The Shroud is located.

My pal Roy leaves in the AM to spend the week at Augusta for The Masters.  He's been there multiple times in the past, but it's unusual that he will be there for the week.  Don't think he's going there to see Tiger.

Speaking of Tiger, his news conference tomorrow will likely steal some thunder from other stories of the day, most notably the NCAA championship game.  And the Opening Days at other major league parks.  I'm guessing that Tiger didn't plan it that way, but he does have a tendency to shine the light on himself.  Humble he is not.

Butler can win, and getting 7 or 7.5 points, I'd be tempted to take the underdog.  But I think that Duke will win. (It looks like 3 could win her pool if Duke wins. Cool beans.)

Have a great week.

BCOT

Saturday

The top photo is the one of River Bandits' stadium  (now Modern Woodmen Park) in Davenport that was featured in Fiday's edition of USA Today that UM noted in her comment on Thursday's entry.  It is a cool place to watch a minor league game.

The second photo came from 1's phone camera today.  She's at the new Target Field in downtown Minneapolis where the Twinkies now call home.  Very cool.

Sunny here today.  Biking later.  Final Four at 1700 hours.

BCOT

Thursday

80+ here today.  Summer hot.  But not much humidity.

I was able to get in a 15 mile ride on the bike path this evening starting as late as 6:25.  This is a good sign.  In a couple of weeks, that evening ride will be a lay up.  In a month, we'll be able to get out in the morning before work.  Suite.

Got the pre-emergent on the yard this week too.  For as much snow as we had this Winter, and as late as it stayed, I'm surprised at how hard the ground is now.  A little rain wouldn't be a bad thing.

2 just stopped in with a girl friend to bum a glass of wine.  2's dealing with stress issues at work, and had more stress with a team project this evening with her Iowa class, so Liberty School seemed like a good call.  One of the advantages of having fam down the street, is the unplanned little visits.  Very cool.

My disappointment with the Direct TV NCAA tournament package for the 2009 tournament is the gift that keeps on giving.  As you may recall, I had no small amount of buyer's remorse last year as the package was weighted down by the fact that, regardless of the anything else, the only feed for the games was the CBS broadcast.  Thus, once you get past the first weekend, there's really not much to be gained by the supposedly greater access.  So there was no way that I was going to sign-up for the service for the 2010 games.

Ah, contrare, my non-reader of the fine print.

When I got my AmEx bill this week, which includes the monthly Direct TV auto-bill debit, there was the monthly charge, up about $75 over the normal fee.  Say what?  So I go to the Direct TV site, pull up the March billing, and there's the line-item of $69.99 plus tax for the NCAA full coverage service.  Somewhere in the Terms of Service that I'm certain I didn't read last year, but did check that I agreed to, it must have said that it was an automatic renewal until canceled.  Shame on PC for the fatal assumption.

These are the kind of things that make consumers distrust companies that game their services.  Let's see, how can we trick a buyer to pay more than they otherwise might choose to do?  I've encountered this practice in a variety of subscription services, even with various vendors in our business.  Annual tax books, or computational programs from on-line providers frequently will send you the update.  And a bill.  (In those situations, after year 2, you at least know the way the game is played.)

Anyway, I have since cooled down, and when I call them tomorrow, my argument will not be for a refund, but rather for a couple of free months of HBO or Showtime.  Surely they'll give me something for their left-handed theft.

And I will be canceling the NCAA package for 2011, thank you very much.l

Gotta say I didn't get the Topeka - Google switcheroo for April Fool's Day.  Still don't.  Aren't April Fool's jokes supposed to have a chance at being funny?

My only comment on the NCAA plan to expand the field to 96 teams is, uh, why?  A better tournament?  Hardly.  The NIT goes away, and the 32 teams that have at least given viewers something to see on off-nights become participants in the equivalent of 16 "play-in" games.  Most of winners then being gone in the new 2nd round.  I'm sure the NCAA pinheads are counting $$$$'s.  It always comes down to money.

1 and 1.1 have themselves a new set of wheels.  The Monte is history.  1.01 need a four-door vehicle.  How did I get through that phase with a pick-em-up truck?  Another example of how the girls made it through childhood (and after) in spite of the parents.

Off to bed.  Make it a Good Friday.

BCOT

Tuesday

Almost 70 here today.  Suite.

With 2 in class last night, I took Winniferous out for about a three mile walk.  And I don't think she slowed down one step of the way.  I was smart enough to at least change to running shoes.  But trying to keep up with her stretched a hammy, a groin, and tweaked an Achilles.

I got out on the bike for 15 miles this evening.  On the bike path.  A little windy, but not that much traffic.  I'm pretty satisfied that the spin classes have given me a base fitness level such that my initial outside rides will be more productive. I may hit the country roads this weekend.

ESPN college basketball broadcaster (and frequent color-guy with Erin Andrews on Big Monday) Steve Lavin has been named as head coach at St. John's in NYC.  Lavin's coaching resume includes the head job at UCLA.  Interesting in that all of the major sports leagues seem to hibernate coaching candidates in the TV studio.  It's almost like a guy has a run, it gets old, he's fired, and he takes a 2-6 year sabbatical for good pay in the media.

After the appropriate number of years, he figures that TV analysis is for pikers, and he's ready for a new challenge.  And other jobs cycle through the same things noted above, and the broadcaster/coach shucks his network blazer for the colors of State U.  Usually, in a year or two, the school (or pro team) ends up with a mediocre record, and the administrators/owners mill around the bar computing the buy-out clause in their futures.

Now watching the Oklahoma-Kentucky womens game (being played in KC) with the winner going to the Final Four.  Not much of a game, but the OU coach, Sherri Coale, makes watching easier. Lots of issues with the women's game in general.  Not only does UConn cast a giant shadow, but the teams just don't draw a crowd in a neutral site.  There are swaths of empty seats for this game.

As I have mentioned here in earlier years, the women use something akin to home-team sites for the first two rounds.  That always doesn't work out when the "home team" loses the first game, but locating these games at likely-tournament-bound-team sites gives them a chance for the live gate.

The whole concept of marketing women sports is a conundrum for anyone involved with promoting these activities.  The LPGA has had a slew of problems finding and keeping sponsors for it's events.  The WNBA?  Right.  Not sure about tennis.  I guess the exception might be the Olympians (swimmers, skiers and skaters), but that's a once-every-four-year gig.

Danica Patrick has made some in-roads in auto racing.  But she's not been afraid to show a little skin in the SI swimsuit issue (and maybe FMH?).  The same for golfer Natalie Gulbis who has published her own bikini calendar the last several years.  And I think that a couple of  tennis players have done Playboy.  Sex sells.

Actually, the LPGA has a problem no one likes to talk about with the influx of Asian players.  I was reading the leaderboard from last week's tournament in La Costa, and there were three Asian names (at least) for each Anglo name.  I know that their tour Director tried to insist on English among this new group of players, but that proposal got trashed by the Do-Gooders.

(BTW..Got your tickets for this week's Dinah Shore?)

Not sure where to go with this debate.  On the one hand, you want womens' sports to succeed, but from an entertainment perspective, most people like the mens' games better because of the speed and skill sets.  Can you legislate preferences?

Betime for Bonzo.

BCOT

Sunday

Greetings on Palm Sunday.

Can't say that I have been much of an attendee at any of these church services for a few years.  As the kick-off for Holy Week, the Catholics in some of the more creative parishes would simulate the mythical/biblical Palm Sunday celebration.  I think those were the same folks who came up with the Communion Dance.

The Pope and his lieutenants continue to fight the problems of priest abuse cases.  Seems like The Vatican cover-ups might even exceed those conducted within the Washington beltway.  Some accomplishment.

On a somewhat related note, the Davenport, Iowa police department has been advised that their official holiday this Friday is no longer called "Good Friday".  It's to be called something like Spring Day.  Seems like some administrative wonks decided that the term "Good Friday" came across as too religious.  I'm not making this up. The policemen's union has even said that such a change in terms is not in their contract.

And I read where some members of the MSM have their knickers wadded up over the former Alaska governor's use of the term "reload" in a campaign speech in Arizona.  I suppose that we can now no longer  talk of a great coach who "doesn't rebuild, but rather reloads" for next year.  And of course contiguous-state rivalries certainly can't be called Border Wars.  Give me a freakin' break.

Iowa made another choice of a mid-major coach: Fran McCaffery of Siena.  He's got some bona fides, but so did the last guy.  (McCaffery also brings an opinionated spouse who has been known to make a scene over officiating.)  I guess that it's a wait and see game for now.  The early line for the over/under on Hawkeye Big Ten wins for next year remains at 5.

I managed to spend both weekend workout days outside on the bike path.  16 yesterday and 24 today.  I actually get a better sweat in spin class as the wind and coolness outside dries everything before it moisturizes.  Is that a reverse form of sublimation?

A partial Top Ten list of sure signs of Spring:

1.  Garden centers being constructed in parking lots at Hy Vee and Walmart.
2.  Motor cycles on the streets.
3.  High school track meets.
4.  Crocus-es...(croci?)
5.  Birds chattering in the early AM.

One of my tax clients had notes in his listing of business expenses about the various pieces of technology hardware and software that he had acquired in 2009.  It all looked fairly legit so I just made a schedule for the return and deducted everything.  In final review, I re-looked at his listing and noted the abbreviation POS after a $400 outlay for an HTC Touch smart phone.  Just like mine.  He also noted that it was no longer working.  It took a third look at his notes to confirm that his acronym for the phone, POS, was for "piece of s--t".  Pretty accurate.  I agree.

Busy week ahead of me.  The good thing about the last three weeks before April 15th is that you are inclined to make definitive decisions about issues rather than "think about it".  It's time to act.  Get 'er done.  Lots of projects just get out the door.  Not necessarily a bad thing.

Hope the peanut gallery has a good weeki.

BCOT

Thursday

No blog today.  Headed out to watch the games.

My picks with the spreads:

Kentucky giving 8 1/2 over Cornell - Taking Kentucky, giving the points.
West Virginia giving 4 1/2 over Washington  -  Taking Washington and the points.
Syracuse giving 6 1/2 over Butler  -  Taking the 'Cuse, giving the points.
K-State giving 5 1/2 over Xavier  -  Taking Xavier and the points.

Somebody out there could probably make some dough shorting my picks.

Good luck to all.

BCOT

Wednesday

For the record, my SB's treat was a blueberry muffin.  Really not bad either, considering that they probably baked it two weeks ago in Lower Slabockia.

One of the conclusions out of the FFF weekend was that our branch of the clan will likely roll into Incline Village on Friday, July 9th, and return to the Flatlands on Saturday the 17th.  2 and 3 have school/job issues that may impact their departure times.  We'll be looking to reserve a condo at Forest Pines.

Congratulations to the Iowa State crowd for the women's team's advancement to the Sweet Sixteen.  Celebrate now.  UConn is next up.  I couldn't even find a betting line on that game.  If the Stanford women (the #2 team) beat Iowa by 30+, my guess is that 30 may not be enough for the 'Clones to cover.  What's that say about the state of D-I women's basketball when a Sweet Sixteen game is off the charts?

Northern Iowa signed their b-ball coach to a 10 year extension today.  Beat KU and you become a media darling.  What's the liklihood that the biggest impetus on that move was the current vacancy about a hundred miles south on I-380?

A final anecdote from DM.  On our way out of town, we stopped at my friend Doug's place to pick up the raw data for preparation of his 2009 tax return.  He's been very successful professionally and his return reflects a variety of elements that make the return a bit out of the ordinary.  In conversation after the business was done, we were talking about the snow storm and the various inconveniences it caused.  He commented that we were witnessing that day the occurence of sublimation.  I was caught a bit clueless.

My immediate reaction was to recall the term sublime.  But I drew a blank on the derivation or the extension of sublime.  Doug explained that we were, in fact, watching the recently fallen snow transform from the solid state to the gaseous state without first becoming liquid.  You can look it up.  I was probably doing a crossword in the back of the class room that day.

(Remember, Doug was the one who randomly offered up the history of Cairn terriers last month.  The guy paid a lot of attention when he was in school.)

I had noticed the Winter's snowpack in my front yard "shrink" in the previous weeks, without the creation of a lot of slushiness, but it never occured to me that there was a scientific explanation for the phenomenon.

The Illinois-side local paper finally woke up and raised it's price to 50 cents.  It had been a quarter.  (At a quarter, why did they even charge?)  I've been buying it daily for the last couple of years for fodder at morning coffee.  They do a good job with coverage of the local Illinois high school sports on a daily basis, and, like I said, it was a quarter! 

The biggest problem with the SB's gold card is that it works best (only?) if you have money on it.  If you want your free cup card after every 15 purchases, you need to use the card, and trying to hand over money and the card is outside the skill-set of our baristas.  (What is the correct term for a male barista?  Or for that matter, a male, or female, amoeba?  But I digress.)  Anyway, by loading the card with a credit card purchase, you now have a more definitive record of your coffee expenditures.  Not a pretty sight.

And since I tend to give out my free cup cards to 2 or 4 as tokens of my fatherly affection, the current SB's Gold Card program has made a definite increase in my coffee budget.  (Actually, I really don't budget for coffee.  I just spend the money.  Life is too short.)

A bit of an aimless entry, but you get what you get.

BCOT

Monday

So for inquiring minds (with modest enlargement equipment), here's a better shot of the star of the Des Moines weekend.  Let's just make her Granddaughter of the Day.  2 and SRH worked their magic to create a transfer of the official weekend logo for a "onesie" in 1.01's exact size.  Suite.

Hard to believe that we had to deal with serious snow and winter driving conditions Friday night and Saturday AM.  4's adventure in the off-road section of I-80 made for a little extra excitement, but other than inconvenience and a $100 fee to the wrecker, the bottom line was acceptable compared to the alternatives.

I'm calling for the standard FFF of this variety to be set for future reference at three nights and two days. Call it the Vegas Model.  This gives us enough time to schedule some things in between arrival and departure.  And not so much as to drive each other nuts.  No offense to anyone.

Margaret's 102nd birthday was Saturday.  She would have enjoyed the games.

Spring sprung on Friday sometime.  Quite the joke on us.

Margret made her way from SRH's garage over to her real home on Thursday afternoon.  She fired up like a champ with no external assistance.

My picks are in the dumper.  Hard to believe I know which end is up.  Obviously, I don't.

Have a good week.

BCOT

Sunday

Suite Time in Des Moines.  March Madness 2010.

Friday

Busy day.  But just so that it gets out there, Happy Tax-Birthday to Margaret!!

More later.

FFF is nigh.

BCOT

Thursday

Just a brief one tonight.

March Madness reigns! (Rains?)  I mean it rains three pointers, right?

Actually did my first outdoor ride this afternoon.  15 on the bike path in a little over an hour.  Suite.

Dinner with 3 and her friend Meredith at Biaggi's.  Pics to follow.  3 made a statement of by ordering (and buying!) a bottle of  Jack London cabernet.  Double suite.  Very enjoyable.  And then we did in a bottle of Rodney Strong cab over at SRH's.  (The last half glass went to the carpet.  Bad move.)

Lots of convergence toward DM tomorrow.  Will March Madness survive?

Have a great Friday.

BCOT

Tuesday

I'm making 3 and 4 Daughters of the Day for separate reasons.  3's out there hustling on the job front and not having the best of times at it.  Why not get a little recognition on the most-read blog that counts in my book?  And 4 has the distinction of two comments on the same day's blog from yesterday.  Comments that were not related to comments from others a la Twitter.  Way to go girls!!!

I received my Census letter today.  At first glance, I'm not sure that more than 40% of the population can/will be able to properly complete the questionnaire.  I think that I am Person 1, but they just as may be talking about Elliot Spitzer.  I hear that Tahoe Phil is a census taker.  My guess is that they hired him to up the IQ average of the census work force.

A little over 36 hours for the NCAA circus to begin.  (Actually, Arkansas Pine Bluff won the play-in game tonight.)  I haven't done my pics yet, and I even enrolled in a new pool with 3 and friends.  It's a great time of year.

4's comments about Tiger are timely.  My guess is that Vegas will have an over/under-like bet of Tiger vs. The Field for The Masters.  Take The Field.  He'll be lucky to make the cut.  Those guys are good.

Everyone see the obituary yesterday for Peter Graves?  While he achieved notoriety in his own right  for movie roles such as in Airplane! and his lead in the TV series, Mission: Impossible, I always remembered him as Marshall Dillon's (James Arness') brother.  Gunsmoke was a long time ago.  They certainly don't make 'em like that anymore.

Happy tax-St. Patrick's Day!  Have a safe one.

BCOT

Monday

I would be deficient if I didn't give proper recognition today to Julius Caesar and the Ides of March.

Pretty much a Spring day here today.  60+ and sunny.  Suite.  I came home for lunch and opened windows for the afternoon.

I am in possession of my 2010 DM FFF March Madness t-shirt.  Double suite.

Lots of the clan have signed up for the Challenge on ESPN.  You have until early Thursday to complete your entries.  Watch out for Temple, Michigan State and Marquette.

Any angst out there over David Beckham's achilles' injury?  I'm guessing that he is officially toast.  What's an idol and Posh to do for the rest of their pitiful lives?

Iowa pulled the trigger and dumped their b-ball coach today.  It had to be done.  They couldn't win.  They couldn't get any fans into the building.  And they couldn't get (or keep) any players.  The next guy has a challenge.  They need to get somebody who can recruit.  Iowa's players can't beat a good YMCA squad.

I put my snow shovel away today.  It had been standing just out side my back door since December.  And I finally gathered up the extension cord that I had run from the garage to the front of my house for Christmas lights.  (I never put the lights up, of course, but I was prepared to do so.)

Sorry that this isn't as exciting as last night, but some days the creativity gene never wakes up

Make Tuesday a good one.

BCOT

Sunday

Selection Sunday is upon us!  The six-game odyssey begins.  Any final words from The Commish?

Pretty uneventful weekend here.  I did get in a spin class on Friday morning and another one earlier today.  With more daylight in the evenings, I'm thinking that my time at Gold's will diminish a lot within the next couple of weeks.  My pal Pete was at class this morning and he's already talking about outside rides.

No real issues with the time change.  Of course, I don't ever change the clock on my bed stand, so now I just have to remember not to subtract an hour when I check the time on that clock.  It took a couple of shots to change the Ironman's time, but even that has become a non-issue.  (My pal Roy has a wrist watch that requires an engineer to change the time.  Does that make it special?)  We'll see if my body-clock adjusts come Monday morning.

Even though St. Patrick's Day is this coming Wednesday, the local Irish held their much-ballyhooed, two-state parade yesterday, and the Iowa-side's biggest Irish pub had their all-day tent-event yesterday as well.  (I think that I saw that C-town dyed the Chicago River green yesterday too.)  I suppose that municipalities and the retailers figure that they'll get much better attendance on the weekend rather than at mid-week.  I may hit the club in Muskie on Wednesday night for a couple of cold green ones.

With no scheduled plans last night, I elected to check out a writer's event that they had this weekend down at the Isle of Capri exhibition hall in downtown Bettendorf (that I thought ran until 8:00).  I had low expectations anyway, but it turned out that the last workshop had ended at 6:30, so I slid into Farradday's next door for a cocktail and ordered a sandwich to-go.  I was sitting at the bar sipping a glass of their very mediocre house cabernet when a big guy came up and took a seat on the next stool.  "I'll take a glass of whatever he's having", he said to the barkeep, pointing to my drink.  I said, "Try the merlot. This isn't much to write home about."

The big guy offered that his name was Phil, and he had been in town for an afternoon book-signing at Border's.  His evening flight back to Houston had been canceled by a mechanical.  I took another look at him, did the math and figured that I was sharing the bar with Oprah's shrink, the fruity Dr. Phil!  It is truly amazing who you can run into when you just hang around and mind your own business.

LtPC:  OK, Phil.  What the flock are you doing signing books in Davenport, for crying out loud?  Don't they have stores a little closer to where ever you call home?

Dr. Phil:  Actually, yes, but I have this contract that calls for me to make x-number of appearances every quarter, and I'm really short on the count for March 31st.  My agent says that I have 10 more to do after today.  I think there's something about the number of different states as well.

LtPC:  Maybe you need a new agent.

Dr. Phil:  Whatever.  What are you doing out by yourself on a Saturday night?

LtPC:  Livin' la vita loco.

Dr. Phil:  Hmmmm.  Ricky Martin.

LtPC:  Huh?  Who's that?

Dr. Phil:  Just a guy.  Say, PC, did you ever see my show?

LtPC:  Never.  I guess I saw some highlights when they would play clips as teasers.  Are you actually a doctor?

Dr. Phil:  I certainly am.  A  P. H. D.  I even had a private practice for a while.  But the big money is in media and that's where I've spent most of my career.  You ever been to a psychologist?

LtPC:  Nope.  Not by a long shot.  If I get depressed or lost at sea, I either write a story, jump on my bike, or open a good bottle of Tuscan red. Or maybe a combination of these.

Dr. Phil:  OK. Hmmm.  So no date tonight?

LtPC:  You could say that I am available.  But don't get any ideas.  I don't date bald guys.

Dr. Phil:  No problem.  I don't either.  But no girlfriend either?

LtPC:  Well, one could say that I'm in between lady friends.  But I'm not complaining.  Making plans for one ain't all that bad, and I'm certainly not headed to some psycho-babbler to get advice.  Actually, I'm working on a new connection that has some very interesting potential.

Dr. Phil:  Like I haven't heard that one before.  Does this gal have a name or is she still under construction in the lab?

LtPC:  Hey, that's a bit harsh on a guy you just met.  Where's the Oprah-ish bedside manner?  And it's the real deal, for sure.  I met her in Scottsdale in January when I went down there with my buds for our Winter golf trip.

Dr. Phil:  OK, I'll bite, but only because I'm bored.  Give me a couple of details.  But no more than that.  I'm not that interested.  By the way, am I in Iowa or Illinois?

LtPC: You're in Iowa now, the airport is in Illinois.  Her name is none of your business, but let's call her Amber for reference. She was at a hotel-hosted Happy Hour at the Fairmont Princess after one of our rounds at the TPC Stadium course and my pal Roy was chatting her up.  Turned out that she had a daughter Erin whom Amber said was on TV sports shows all the time. That got my attention, and I chimed in, "Andrews?"  And as a totally surprising answer, she said, "Yes".

Dr. Phil:  Ok, my turn.  Who's Erin Andrews?

LtPC:  Doc, do you live under a rock?   She's the "It" girl on ABC/ESPN and does a pretty good job of side-line reporting for all of their college sports programming.  I've been a big fan even though my daughters always give me that "Uh, Dad, she's our age look" all the time.

Dr. Phil:  You're losing me PC.

LtPC:  Whatever.  Since I watched a lot of the sports that Erin broadcast, Amber and I had a lot to talk about.  Amber gave me the low down on Erin's progression at the networks (and on the pigs that she's had to put up within the TV business). She and a girl friend joined us for dinner that night.  We've been cyber friends ever since.

Dr. Phil:  Still bored.

LtPC:  Not a lot more to say.  I'm headed back to Scottsdale for a conference in May. We've got tickets for a Diamondbacks game.

Dr. Phil:  What's a Diamondback?  Oh, scratch that.  I really don't care.

LtPC:  Doc, you need to get out among the people more.  You sound a little elitist.

Dr. Phil:  Don't give me any of that right-wing, tea-party crap.  I bet you weren't even at the Fairmont, let alone met some desert princess.  You may have played golf in Scottsdale, but I bet you actually stayed at the $39-a-night Days Inn in Mesa.  And I'll take the under on on that fairy tale of you and Amber Whatever-Her-Name-Is.

LtPC:  Well, think what you might Doc, but as a famous Jerry often said, "It could've happened."  You really ought to re-read a couple chapters of your book on relationships. I'd like to discuss it further, but my sandwich is ready and it's getting close to my bedtime.  You have a good night .

BCOT

Thursday

March Madness has officially begun.  The conference tournaments are all underway.  (Over for the Hawks, Clones, and probably tomorrow for the Irish.)  It's a great time to be a college basketball fan.

Boy, are the Big East and Big 10 games physical!  If there's no blood, there may not be a foul.

I didn't realize it, but the Big XII men are back in KC for their tournament this year.  There's a new downtown arena (the Sprint Center), but when I went down for a couple of Big 8 tournaments in the 80's, the games were at Kemper Arena.  The Clones were pretty good those years, and there were lots of Iowa State fans in the stands.  Country Club Plaza, warm weather, and basketball.  Fun times.

It might have been 60 degrees here today.  I'm officially declaring Winter as being over.  The only snow piles still around are those in the shopping center parking lots that were several feet tall just last weekend.

An interesting point of discussion that came up on ESPN's Mike & Mike In The Morning show today involved yesterday's announcement of the retirement of Mia Hamm's husband (also known as Nomar Garciaparra). Nomar had arranged to sign a one-day contract with Boston so that he could say that he retired as a member of that team.  Although Nomar had spent the last few years with other teams, his best years were at shortstop in Boston, and it was appropriate that this ceremonial retirement was held in Beantown.

Apparently in his emotional speech, Nomar made repeated references to his desire to retire as a "Redsock", as opposed to a member of the "Redsox".  An admitted afficionado of language, I guess I had never thought much of a singular "sox" (whether they be red or white).  I guess I fall on the side that says that a Redsock is a bit silly, and something that might belong on a weather vane.  It may not get you past an English professor, but a ball player is a Redsox, even by himself.

I'm not sure if I noted here that my Wells Fargo billing service story had one final, unexpected twist. After the second payment that was sent to The Gap was returned, I thought all was right with the world.  I had actually received a new invoice from Chase for the February billing cycle, had confirmed the purchases and scheduled payment for later this month.  Then I got another alert from Wells Fargo Bill Pay to advise me that they had corrected the mis-sent payment, and had then sent it to Chase.

When the Customer Service rep had talked to me on the phone, there was no mention that they would be doing anything once they got the money back from The Gap.  Oops.  So, bottom line, I still ended up double paying Chase.  (And had to cancel that payment that I scheduled for the new billing that I had received.) And that payment/re-deposit amount appears at least five times on my bank statement.  Like a normal person might be able to figure that one out.

The bartender at Geneva didn't have my wine on-hand Wednesday night.  He pleaded his case by saying that he had it on ordered and that it should be on-hand for the weekend.  We'll see.

The politically conservative websites that I read all give Matt Damon's new movie low marks because of it's anti-war orientation.  I haven't read much about the flick, and I've been a fan of the Bourne movies, but the politics of Hollywood has always been left of center.  I never viewed the darker Viet Nam movies (Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc.), and I'm guessing that Green Zone will fall into that category as well.

The plan is to sneak over for 0900 spin in the morning so as to free up Friday night for some Tuscan red.  If the rain holds off, I could be on the road this weekend with my pal Pete.  Suite.

Hope y'all have a great Friday.

BCOT

Tuesday

The bad news for the Lt is that it looks like there will be a back molar extraction in my near future.  The same tooth that was root-canaled last Summer has remained a problem.  A visit to a second periodontist today has confirmed my suspicion that repair/treatment is not much of an option.  Yuck.  Not to mention the financial aspects of the transaction.  And the subsequent bridge/implant.  Double or triple Yuck.

(For extra credit, kids, anyone know the difference between a periodontist and an endodontist?  Before hitting Google?)

Tough on the Minnesota fans to learn that the Twinkies' closer may be headed to Tommy John surgery.  How does that come out at the beginning of Spring Training?

The snow is gone from my yard!  This has been a lo-o-o-o-ng Winter.

In reference to my NASCAR comment here the other day, the Powers That Be gave Carl Edwards nothing but a slap on the wrist for dumping the 12 car.  There will be problems later this year.

Here is a list of pre-NCAA Tournament phrases or adjectives (that will be used ad-nauseum this week by the sports hacks as they analyze the picks/seedings) that could be used for whatever-that-drinking-game is called:

1.  Body of work.
2.  Good wins.
3.  Bad losses.
4.  Conference record.
5.  RPI rating.
6.  Road record.
7.  Guard court.
8.  Strength of schedule.
9.  Senior leadership.
10.One and done.

I'm sure that if a person were to spend a little more time, the list could be doubled.  I've actually reached the point where I don't listen to the commentary on the radio or between games on the tube.  I mean, who the flock cares whether Butler is a five seed or a six seed?  And so St. Mary's beat Gonzaga in the conference tournament and probably ripped an at-large bid from the 7th place team in the Big East.  BFD.  Like Georgetown is going to get to the Sweet Sixteen.

At least we don't have Billy Packer to listen to anymore.  Now if they could just send Doug Gottlieb and Seth Davis to the same Happy Hunting Ground.  Sending Jim Nantz to The Masters a week early wouldn't hurt either.

So I'm a little cynical tonight.  Sorry.  It's the tooth.

Word from Lincoln is that 4 has been able to swap out her shift on the 19th to get to FFF in DM at a decent hour Friday night.  Suite.

Early spin in the AM.  I checked my calendar from last year and I have already had more workout days in March than I did in the full month last year as I recovered from the car accident.  I wonder if I'll be able to tell the difference when I hit the roads in April?  Obviously, I'll be hugely disappointed if another year older off-sets this year's extra preparation.  We'll see.

Another venture to Muskie tomorrow night. I'm curious if the bartender has stocked the wine that I recommended.  How many times do you need to suggest before non-activity becomes a definite answer to the negative?

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

I felt that it was time for a change in the Home Page visuals.  This remains one of my favorite moments of last Fall's trip to Italy/France.  The summit of The Galibier.  With no gas left in the tank.

Early spin today.  My guess is that the Over/Under call on the number of my actual future attendance days at spin class this Sping is 20.  Maybe 15.  If 20, take the Under.  If 15. I'd have to take the Over.  It really kind of depends on April weather.  With the time "Springing Forward" this weekend, there will be more than adequate daylight to get in some rides after work in a couple of weeks.

The follow-up stories on the punch thrown last week by the Baylor women's basketball player have been all over the place.  Several have said that a two-game suspension was inadequate, while others have taken various positions to the contrary.  One guy wanted to let it go because it was a current day example of the parity between the men's and women's game. Huh? Tell that to the Oregon running back who punched out the Boise State player and spent the next two months in Purgatory.  Whatever.

Then you have a very popular NASCAR driver, Carl Edwards, sending another driver and car around yesterday in retalliation for an incident earlier in the race, only to see the bumped car go airborne and crash upside down in a real mess.  Not only did he commit the crime with intent, we're talking probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to the wrecked car and the subsequent wrecks that could be blamed on the first one.  Carl needs a severe penalty or the Code of The West will make these races Pay Back City for each case of bump-'n-run.

Still no deposit from The Gap.

More later.

LATER:  One last follow-up on an earlier entry.  The PGA has reached a settlement with Ping to officially put those 20 year-old wedges with square grooves fully out to pasture.  There had been some bad press in an early tournament when Phil Michelson had legally used these clubs that don't conform to new rules.  Makes one wonder why they couldn't get this handled before it became news.

And for those with any interest in women's NCAA records, UConn set a new win streak mark when they beat ND for their 71st straight tonight.  The 15 point win was a "close" game, comparatively speaking.

BCOT

Sunday

Lazy Sunday on the couch.  Spin this AM was not near as exciting as last week when we had guest instructor Melissa.

To be perfectly clear, I will not be watching the Oscars tonight, nor highlights later.

Wells Fargo managed to screw the pooch (sorry, Winnie) in the Bill Pay function of my checking account last week.  I had a scheduled payment to my Chase credit card rejected and returned to my account.  In following up with Wells, they said that there had been a problem and that I needed to resubmit the payment.  Which I did.  The problem, of course, was that the payment process is a two day affair and I was down to one day.  I could see a $39 late charge in my immediate future.

So I called Chase, finally getting a human being after a several minute circle jerk on their automated system.  After some quick research, the rep said that Wells had mistakenly sent payments for three straight days to the wrong "box", whatever that means.  I lamented about my time constraints, and her first response was, "Well, it's not Chase's fault".  Then as my discontent heated up, she came up with, "You could always go in and direct Chase to pull the minimum payment out of your checking account."  Right.  And incur finance charges on the balance for most of two months?  How idiotic.  And this is who they have advising customers?  I hung up and tried to analyze my predicament.

After I had cooled down to room temperature, I looked at my options and elected to direct Chase to pull out the full statement balance to assure timely payment and avoid all of the various penalty charges.  I had already incurred enough purchases in the current billing period to consume most of the double payment.  And with little interest being earned in the checking account, the only downside was that I was giving Chase early use of my money.

I found it interesting that an electronic payment "pushed" by me through the electronic system was a two-day process, while a similar payment "pulled" by Chase was a same-day event.  Yet another way that the banks all work "the float" to their own advantage.  A few cents here, and a few cents there, and after a while, you're talking about some real money. (See also, "A billion here and a billion there, and you're talking about real money", as attributed to Senator Everett Dirkson.)

For those of you nodding off, the story is not over.

I checked my account on-line the next morning and saw the double payments (one pulled, one pushed) subtracted from my account.  I thought that the episode was over.  Wrongo, Bucko.

The next afternoon, I got a call on my cell phone from an "unidentified" number, with some gal asking for "Paul".  When anyone asks for Paul, 1) they obviously don't know me, 2) are usually trying to sell something, or 3) they have a problem with an air ticket, rental car or hotel from my past or future.  When I was a bit cool to the caller, she gave up that she was from Wells Fargo and wanted to talk about my recent problems with Bill Pay.  Before I let her say much, I told her that I had handled the problem, and that while I wasn't happy making the double payment to Chase, I had moved on to other stuff.

That was when she said, "Actually, I'm calling about the resubmitted payment, and not the one initially rejected by Chase."  That got my attention.  Turns out that when I resubmitted the payment to Chase, Wells sent it to The Gap!!  I was a bit incredulous.  I asked if I had some how messed-up on the payment process, knowing that on my Bill Pay screens, I do have The Gap listed as a payee. No, LtPC had done what was required.  Wells had in fact made a second error on the same payment.  Wow.  Makes you confident in your vendor.

As of today, The Gap payment has not been returned as promised.  Wells did make a $50 Customer Service deposit into my account on Friday.  Suffice it to say, I will be watching my Wells Fargo account a bit closer in the future.

BTW, I haven't balanced my checking account in several decades.  If you've been stealing from me, it works.

Uncle Phil reports that he is turning 2 and Carrie loose on t-shirts for the clan reunion at Tahoe.  I'm wondering if 2 can get some practice on FFF DM 2010 March Madness?

Sorry that the checking account story got long, but it was an interesting experience for me.

Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Thursday

I have documented here several times in the past my problems with lost keys and glasses.  The latest episode adds bank deposit paperwork to the list.

The story is longer and much more boring than I will now relate here.  In short, I took to the bank on Tuesday a deposit of several checks from separate days which meant that there were multiple deposit slips.  When I returned with the receipts, there was one missing.  We could tell because we always make photo copies of each deposit.  We called the bank to see if they had mistakenly clipped two sets of checks together.  No.  I searched the Taurus.  I retraced my trip. I triple checked my car. We called the bank again.  We repeated the above.  No to all.

I waited a couple of days to see if the deposit just "turned up" in the office or somewhere.  I gave up.  I resigned to call my affected clients and tell them that I had lost their checks.  Bummer.

When I got into the Buick last night to go to Geneva, I mistakenly opened the top portion of the center console when I reached to open the primary console box, and "Waalaah!", the lost deposit.  I had apparently taken the deposit with the intent of making it a week before, hadn't made it to the bank, and must have stowed it for another day.  No recollection of that action at all. Beyond Sometimers.

Anybody catch the video of the Baylor women's basketball player punching out an opposing player last night?  Pretty serious stuff.  And the perpetrator is the most publicized women's player of the year, the 6'8" freshman who dunks routinely.  If it had been a man, she would definitely be out for the season, and maybe longer.  Instead, this gal gets a two game suspension.  We may not have heard the last of this though.  The Big XII needs to step up and sit her for the rest of the year.

What I am reading about the end game on Obamacare is scary.  Every indication is that the White House is going to play out a process that stuffs this crap through, regardless of the fiscal or political consequences.  The Republicans may come out of this as the Party of No, but anyone who still believes that the Big O is anything but a Chicago Strawman, has sipped way too much Kool-ade.

My challenge tomorrow is to get my pal Cal to1630 spin class. 50-50 at best.  But I know that he wants to get there, so it's a matter of whether his cases go OK.  BTW, after last week's experience, I'm waiting until after class to hit the wine bar this week.

Fun to see baseball highlights on SportsCenter.  Is it Spring yet?

14 days to FFF March Madness DM 2010.  Somebody needs to come up with a slogan for our T-shirts.

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a short entry.  Headed out in a few to adult beverages in Muscatine.

Thanks to Revkev for his comments in recent days.  Always glad to hear from the Left Coast.

3 has her flights booked for March Madness in DM.  Suite.

My pal Cal made it to spin class at 0545 this AM.  Now the challenge will be to get him to the Friday class at 1630.  He actually knew/knows the instructor from years ago.  He casts a wide net.

Maybe a little here later when I get home.  But don't count on it.

BCOT

Tuesday

I'm adding a mid-day entry to catch up just a little from last night's aborted attempt to connect to the Internet.  I had one of those "Run this Anti-Virus Software" viruses pop up and I couldn't get it contained.  I figured that the IT guy would have to scrub my machine today, but when I fired up the laptop this morning, no virus.

I had actually run two separate anti-malware programs last night after encountering the pop up, and neither found anything.  So the pop up, that said I had 17  problems, was likely the only problem on the machine.  The next time the IT guy is in, we'll do another full body scan just to be safe.

Regarding the "tool" man from spin class, No, I haven't seen him in a helmet in class, but he does regularly show up in his full, skintight, racing uniform.  Very sexy. 

(Keep in mind that this is the same guy who filled the role of  an anti-wingman on a Friday (go home day) of RAGBRAI several years ago.  He had arranged for a couple of low-level employees to do a daily leap-frog with his Suburban to have transportation at each over-night town.  Pete and I had signed on to use his vehicle as a carrier for our camping stuff, and for the ride back to the QCA.  For a fee, of course.  He is a tool.  When we didn't get to the final destination town on time that afternoon, in a 115 degree heat index swelter, he just took off for home, Pete and PC be damned. 

The story is a little longer than merited for this entry.  There was some late-nighting by P&P, some adult beverages, some hills, head winds and a few other factoids.  But the bottom line was that tool-head booked with the boys unaccounted for.  Not a bro-list enhancer among bro's.)

As for Erin on Dancing, I'm mildly curious, but the cost to watch the program and put up with the other fools may be too much of a price to pay.  She does have cheerleading in her resume.  Or was it the Pom-Pom Squad?  I wonder how long it will take for one of her dips showing a little cleavage to hit the Net?

I'm meeting my pal Cal for an evening session with a prospective manager of the country club that Cal and Roy own over on the Illinois side.  The boys have proved the last couple of years that absentee-ownership/management yields significant write-offs.  Not in a good sense. 

I should get back in time to add more here later.  Assuming that the virus is gone.

LATER:  Back from an evening on the road.  Wine with Cal.

Does anyone actually believe that the Postal Service could ever be profitable?  Say, with two days of delivery? Are the carriers unionized?  I'm wondering what would happen if the USPS just went away?  How long would it take for private enterprise to assume the vacuum?  At what price to the consumer?  I'm thinking that we would all survive. 

Further, who came up with the concept that the proper number of hot dogs in a package was eight?  And did the bakeries just go along?  And the twelve ounce soda?  The 24 can case of beer?  The 12 bottles case of wine?  I mean, we have a lot of questions to consider.

RCL tomorrow and Geneva for cocktails.  The blog may suffer.

BCOT