Sunday

This entry comes from the Sunshine State. At least the weather is more Florida-like than the 40's when my pal Bill was here last week.

Travel was fairly uneventful. I elected to not check a bag, and that usually makes things a little less variable. (I was called out by security for too big of a tooth paste tube in my dop bag.) Hertz's counter is off site so in addition to the monorail ride from the arrival gate to the terminal, there was the shuttle ride from the terminal to Hertz. I'm not over-confident of finding Hertz on the return trip.

And I am considering paying the fee to join the Hertz Priority Club. Showing up and taking any car without going to the counter is appealing to me. (I've gone to Hertz exclusively now on the advice of my insurance agent who says that State Farm and Hertz honor each other's contracts.)

Auntie 2 is all smiles with 1.01 on Saturday morning. 1.01 is a good baby. With more clothes than all of the aunties! It will be fun to watch her grow.

4 was the big winner at her company's holiday party held last night in Lincoln. Her name was drawn for the 42" big screen TV! Suite. I'm sure will get details later.

I get back home Wednesday afternoon. My RCL is due in Wednesday afternoon as well. According to my math, I've been gone more days than I've been home since her last visit. Does that mean that she'll have to work harder to find the dirt?

I did some math on my 2009 schedule, and I computed that I was away from home 35+ days, probably twice my usual total. Then again, those 10 days in Italia don't occur every year! But since I consider last year one of my best years in years, maybe I need to spend a little more time away from the norm.

Uncle Phil noted that 1.01 just missed being born on the anniversary of GP H's passing, 1/12/94. He's been gone like 16 years. A lot of water under the bridge since then.

All for tonight. Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Friday

1.01 as of Friday AM. (More to come from 1 when they get home later today.)

Age: 48 hours!

Thursday

She probably should have been given the distinction yesterday, but LtPC was a little slow on the draw. Here's to 1.01 as Grand Daughter of the Day! You 'da girl, Girl!

Wednesday

Clan expansion!

Peyton Lynne. 7.3 lbs. 21 inches.

1.01 on 4KDays.

Monday

I'm not even going to bore the peanut gallery with the details of the return home odyssey. Suffice it to say, air travel remains one of my least favorite activities. The good part is that I did get home on time and with luggage.

3 and 4 earn Daughters of the Day honors with their belated birthday posting on their blog. It was a big hit with the honoree. Thanks to the authors!

The trip to Italy just keeps on giving. I got an unanticipated greeting from Hertz today with a $45 speeding ticket from Turin included. I know exactly where the trap was set. It was clearly posted. And I thought that I was always complying. There's no details on the billing notice other than the date and the location. I'm wondering if it might not just be a money grab assessed against any (and maybe every) car rental.

Big news from Big Mac in StL. I'm guessing that this announcement was planned at the time that he was named the Cardinals' hitting coach a few weeks ago. The next step will be a full press conference at the start of Spring Training, with open questioning for as long as it takes. With Pujols, Holliday and others on his six. Then it will be left to the media hacks to forgive and forget, or try to hang him out as something toxic. What does it prove to put him in a pillory in the town square for ever and a day?

I see where they are canceling Leno and moving him back to his old slot for 30 minutes each night. Can't really opine on this one as I've never watched his primetime show. I'm taking the "over" though on the bet that somewhere, someone is somehow blaming this one on George Bush too.

Hard to believe, but the peloton fires up for real for 2010 next week in the Tour Down Under in Australia. Lance is on the Team Radio Shack squad that is scheduled to take the line. He'll just ride a supporting role there as they'll be looking for some stage wins for their sprinters.

I won't even mention the countdown to Daytona. (Although I may investigate the "gadgets" inventory to hang one on here some where.) I guess I mentioned it. Sorry.

Go0d luck to 1 and 1.1. Keep the Focus between the ditches, 2.

BCOT

Saturday

Beautiful day on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk. They use this course for a PGA event in the Fall, and you'd best come with your "A" game. I played like a hack, but with 70+ degrees and sunny, what's to complain about?

This is a post-round photo of our foursome, minus the earlier-leaver, Calvinator. Notice the hot rental vehicle. Hertz did me no favors on looks, but it was/is brand new and drives pretty nice. Just a little small for four bigger guys. Not exactly Escalade-quality.

The Home Page pic is a shot off one of the tee boxes. I spent a lot of time out there today.

Italian dinner at a nice spot across the parking lot in a little while. We ate there last year. Some nice Tuscan reds on their list. Early to bed for a travel day back to the Arctic tomorrow.

BCOT

Friday

Dinner at Don & Charlie's in Scottsdale. Great meal, and tons of sports memorabilia.

BCOT

Thursday

The 19th hole at Grayhawk. My pal Roy next to me, Bobby D, and then my pal Cal.

After an o345 wake-up in Denver, we made it into PHX and our clubs caught up with us by mid-morning. We made it for a 1221 tee time. Very cool.

A gratuitous pic of our accommodating server Sam who put up with us old folks. A little out of focus, but Roy was on the other side of the camera.

Troon North golf on Friday.

More from the road later.

BCOT

Wednesday II

Just a few lines this evening from the Moline Airport. We are in a delay for our flight to Denver. They think that we'll get out, but we may miss our connection to PHX. They've already booked us on an early flight out of Denver tomorrow morning. What could go wrong?

We're still without email at work. The equipment people didn't properly coordinate with the phone line people and when some lines were swapped over from the old provider to the new provider, there was the small matter of our DSL line being left in the scrap heap. The effort today to re-establish the connection was large, but unsuccessful. Of course, it was all nobody's fault.

I ended up staying at the Orange Bowl party last night to the happy ending. That made early spin class a bit of a challenge, but I made it, and the personal training session that followed. It was truly a case of "bad shrimp", but there was a bit of "the morning after" slows.

I had a few texts from my pal Pete last night from the game. He said that it was almost like an Iowa home game. He flew back to C-town this afternoon and is now driving to Bettendorf. I hope he beats the snow.

In other good news, I got a call in the middle of the game last night from my RCL who was/is back in town. She wanted to know if I wanted here to clean today or wait two more weeks (since she knew that the substitute had been through just last week). I opted for current service. And I actually saw her this afternoon when I stopped to garage the Taurus and pick up my bags. She thought Mountainman was cool, but maybe a little too big for my place. I, of course, disagreed.

It looks like we might be boarding. I'll add more later.

BCOT

Wednesday

Great game for the Hawkeyes. Congrats to 3 and 4 for the success of their alma mater!!

BCOT

Monday

Still in the Deep Freeze here. It got above zero today, but not much. Really glad to get the Taurus in the garage.

TCU - Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on the tube as I make this entry. Does anyone care? (That same question probably applies to the Orange Bowl tomorrow night. Sorry, Hawkeye fans.)

BTW, it may be useful information to know that the Air Force Academy and Navy both won their bowl games with the triple-option running offense that they both learned from the Georgia Tech coach when he was at Navy. Iowa had better score 30 points or more if they expect to win.

Speaking of football saturation, SportsCenter, and every other sports highlights show, can't play the Wes Welker knee-injury play often enough. Welker is the New England Patriots slot receiver who made a cut while catching a pass yesterday and tore the ACL and MCL in the same leg. Not pretty. I've not been able to watch replays of knee injuries for years. And the video producers seem to think that 14 angles on what can be a career-ender is must-see-TV.

Switching gears...

I've been impressed within the last week with at least three commercial enterprises who have reached out through technology and wished me happy birthday. Starbucks in snail mail was a lay-up as their new Preferred Customer program includes a free birthday beverage. A Gap email greeting with a 25% discount code for an online or in-store purchase in January was a bit of a surprise. But the most unusual was an electronic "Happy Birthday" greeting on the Wells Fargo ATM screen when I had to stop by for some cash over the weekend.

Lots of sales-oriented businesses have had computerized client relationship systems for years. How many birthday cards have you received from your insurance agent(car/homeowner/life) or investment professional? Even the salesman that sold you your car probably has you on a follow-up program. (Remember those little oil-change post cards?) I just find it interesting that designers have made in-roads in the wireless age to new ways to reach customers.

The new phone system at the office is still a work-in-process. I did learn today that I need to hang my wireless ear piece on it's cradle when not in use to keep it charged. Similar to the wireless mouse on my laptop (except that the mouse's power source is not rechargeably-connectable to the computer). Neither of those two words are words.

It's a little scary, but I have to start packing for Scottsdale tonight. One day is plenty for normal clothes, etc., but the golf equipment complicates the one-day, one-hour schedule. One positive for this year's trip...I know where my clubs are. Shoes, balls, and ancillary equipment will require a further search.

What's the deal with the apple falling from the vine on the Google home page today?

More tomorrow.

BCOT

Saturday

The Deep Freeze has set in for a few days. Bitter cold this AM, and it never really warmed up much during the day. It looks like it may not get much better in these days before Scottsdale.
.
Spin class this morning was an hour and a half. A very solid challenge. And then I had another hour with my personal trainer. The gym was pretty busy with New Year's resolution folks.
.
A major accomplishment today was moving Margret from my garage over to SRH's extra spot so that I could get the Taurus under cover. I hadn't fired Margret up for several weeks, so I figured it was 50-50 to get her going. But after a little initial resistance, she caught on and it was an uneventful trip to her Winter home. See you in March, baby!
.
I did a little Winnie sitting this afternoon. What does that say about the excitement in my life? She's pretty used to the routine at my place and did her business outside like a big girl. She seems to like the outdoors. I'm wondering how her breed is generally regarded for cold weather.
.
I have the Iowa-Minnesota bball game on as I write this entry. Not only are the Hawks down big early, there's nobody in the stands. I said that the over-under for their conference win total was five, but that makes the under a heavy bet.
.
My pal Pete left today for the Orange Bowl. My pal Roy left this AM (flying private) for a few days at his condo in Vero Beach before our Scottsdale trip. Makes a guy feel a little cold and lonely. It will be interesting to see how many Iowa fans turn up in Miami. The report I saw had 45K in Tempe for the 'Clones' Insight.com Bowl at 74K capacity Sun Devil Stadium. Which seems like an over-flow crowd compared to some of the near-empty houses at several of those earlier no-name bowl games.
.
The one thing that has been notable in these bowl games is that coaches seem more inclined to take chances to get the W rather than playing it safe for a tie or to continue an overtime. The Idaho guy went for a two point conversion and the win (and was successful) with just a couple of seconds to go in the game rather than kicking the PAT and going to OT. The Northwestern guy tried a trick play and lost rather than test his second string kicker in OT. And lots of plays deep in the playbook come up for air throughout the games. It makes things more interesting.
.
All for tonight. I'm scheduled for SB's in the AM. I'm sure that I'll be enlightened.
.
BCOT

Friday

Happy New Year!!

The 2010 edition of 4KDays will start tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday

Not sure I understand the math on these bowl games with no-name teams playing in front of 30K fans. Are the broadcast rights that good? What's the over-under for the Clones?

Had the substitute RCL yesterday. I know that she doesn't do quite as good of a job, but just getting the primary dusting and vacuuming done keeps the place from being an embarrassment.

Had a client come up with what I thought was an off-the-wall factoid this week as we began the application process for some new insurance. We had applied last year for a different policy and his health examination came back with extremely high cholesterol and we elected to not take the rated policy that was offered by the carrier. He had been on and off statin medication in the past.

Anyway, he found out recently that his daily consumption of grapefruit juice had negated the medical impact of the drug. He happened to be in my office Tuesday telling this story, at a time when my pal Pete was also there, and Pete said, "Oh yeah. My prescription has an avoid-grapefruit-products precaution on the label". And he showed us the bottle with that label.

I always thought that the source of my good health was my diet, heavy with veggies such as tomatoes, and various fruits, specifically grapefruit items. Who would have thunk that such things could work against a person?

Hope everyone enjoys a fun and safe New Year's Eve. A real good night to...

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a few lines today.

.

The excitement in the office today is the kick-off of our new phone system. The desk units are in place and operational. Now the users have to figure out how it all works. At this point, the old precaution, "Be careful what you wish for; you may get it", is probably applicable. I even missed the training session yesterday, so I'm really out of the loop.
.

After the markets closed, I flipped the TV to ESPN to catch whatever bowl game happened to be on. I was lucky enough (?) to see the start of the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl from Boise, Idaho. We could research a little about Roady's, but I have no interest. (Isn't a "roady" also known as a drink for the road?) The main claim to fame of the game is the blue carpet on the field. The first time I watch a TV game from that stadium, I spent 10 minutes trying to get the color on my set to adjust to the right colors. Who knew that the field was blue?

.

And lastly, I was in a discussion yesterday with a friend about just who qualified as a good comedian in the movies these days. We struggled to name one. I can't stand Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler, and what can you say about Charlie "the mugger" Sheen, even before his latest escapade? (Is he nuts or what?) Slim pickens in my opinion.

.

I'm off to Muscatine tonight to have a pre-New Year's Eve cocktail with friends.

.

BCOT

Monday

This has always been a funny week. You have a little bit of the Christmas hangover, and the knowledge that you have a short week before the New Year's holiday. And we always have some client business that needs to be closed before the 31st. Makes for some interesting times.

.

My Perfect Neighbor had snow-blowed my sidewalk and driveway by the time I pulled in from the TC last night. It looked like we had 4-5 inches here, compared to the 10-12 that they had up North. It is Winter.

.

The traffic on I-80 last night in the stretch from Iowa City to Davenport was your typical holiday crush. The rudest drivers were the ones who pounded down the right lane when the left lane was stacked up waiting for a semi to make a pass or otherwise get over to the right lane, and then the jerk darts over into the left lane when he/she catches up to the slower vehicle in the right lane. I can see where Homer or Jethro might get a serious case of road rage if they were cut in on once too often.
.

The Remington (Mountainman for the uninformed) is at home on the table behind my couch. Perfect. This ranks in the top five of All-Time-Best-Christmas-Presents, and will enjoy a similar ranking come my birthday, and Father's Day. (It certainly wins the Most Expensive category.) It might have a two-year run. (This may depend on whether 3 finds a good job in NYC in 2010.) For the record, the rider's name is "Johnson", and the horse's name is "Pilgrim". It was a bit ironic that the movie Jeremiah Johnson was on the AMC channel last night. The moon and stars continue in good alignment for LtPC.

.

Almost forgot. Special recognition to 1 and 1.1 for their great work in hosting their first FFF at Christmas time. While we think that we are an easy crew to please, it's always a little more work than the guests may think, so "Here, Here!" to the folks on Woodduck. (And 1.1 did score some pretty fair tickets to the Wolve's game. Duh!)
.
Still working on the blog math for the baby. I'm leaning toward 1.01.
.
Does anyone care about the bowl games to date? I mean, what's not to like about the Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl? And we're not even half way home.
.
I've got to admit that my experience in the fruit section at the grocery store lately has been a bit hit-and-miss. Had great oranges last week, high grade Granny Smith apples right before the trip North, and passable Texas grapefruit before that. The latest batch of oranges was something less than perfect. Dry almost. But I'm optimistic that the next batch will raise the bar.
.
I've got to hit the hay. Another training session at seven bells. Think I'll do some treadmill before meeting the trainer. I hate to admit it, but I almost like the three miles I do these days. And I hate running.

BCOT

Sunday

Travel day. Successful for all. Great FFF memories.

Back to the Real World tomorrow. Short, but busy week for me.

BCOT

Saturday

Target Center - Minneapolis - December 26, 2009 - Wolves win!!

Friday

Merry Christmas to all!!!

4 made it to the TC this AM. Almost on time.

Still opening gifts. Lots of desserts yet to address. A slice of home made apple pie by 3 may be in my future.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Birthday to 4!!!

Lobbyl time for LtPC. Not doing the manicure with the rest of the fam. Maybe a walk with Winnie later.

Staying at a relatively new Sheraton just a mile or so from 1 and 1.1's place. Suite. Don't see a bowl of oranges and apples, but there is a Starbuck's coffee station. Really nice fitness room. Wi-fi throughout, plus a nice Business Center (with printer). Overall, a solid Four Stars on my hit parade.

Best wishes to all.

BCOT