Thursday

Congrats to RevKev and family on the new addition. The clan just got as little younger!

BCOT

Wednesday

A little post now since I am headed over to Augie tonight with 2 to see the game with Illinois Wesleyan. The home team has had a tough year, and tonight's game will be no exception. There's no true "star" on the team and they have struggled with achieving an identity.

Regarding Uncle Phil's inquiry on my Big Monday prediction, "No", I bet only occasionally with friends, and rarely more than a five-spot. My pal Wally and I used to have three bets (at five-a-pop) each week during football season; we each picked a college football game and gave the other guy the team not picked. And then we would alternate the Monday Night pro game, again giving the other guy the team not picked. At the end of the year, we'd settle up, and rarely, if ever, did it get to $25 total owed either way.

Ash Wednesday. Is there anyone in the clan doing ashes? It used to be a big deal in our family. I can't remember the last time I went to an Ash Wednesday service.

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4 asked me when I was in Lincoln over the weekend if I was "giving up" anything for Lent. And I had no response. I'm thinking that the deadline for making such a commitment was actually last night at midnight, but 1700 CDT today works given where we're at in time. (We can always extend the coverage period to the Monday after Easter for fulfilling the abstinence period.)

To assure compliance with a commitment, I think that I can give up white wine. No chardonnay or pinot grigio for LtPC for forty days.

Lindsey Vonn won an Olympic Gold Medal this afternoon. She has more events to do, but the SI jinx may not be working here. Good for her. I wonder what the economic benefit to her will be of her success? My guess is that we're talking millions.

CNBC is the channel I have tuned to in my office during the day (usually on mute because of the dribble). As an NBC family member, CNBC is home to the curling competition in Vancouver. So at 1600 local, rather than business news analysis, we get two hours of curling. Not saying that it isn't interesting to a point, but you really need to be in the mood to watch it for longer than say, a few minutes. It's the equivalent of saloon shuffle-board on ice.

My pal Doug in Des Moines offered up that Cairn terriers got their name from the task that they were bred to perform, that is, protecting cairns from rodents who would weaken the structures. I, of course, did not know what a cairn was, and had to be so informed. A cairn is a marker or monument (often a conical pile of stones) meant to signify a burial site, path or summit. So now you know too. Pictured too is the most famous of the clan's cairn's.

I still have trouble with Blogger on the spacing when I add pictures. The system wants to triple-space every paragraph each time I place a pic in the text. Very annoying.

All for today. Have a great evening.

BCOT

Monday

Here's a little recognition to the Four Heads for my salute to President's Day. With the markets and the banks closed today, the phones stay a little more quiet than a normal Monday.

Also did a trip over to Annawan, Illinois (40 minutes East of here) this morning for the funeral of my pal Cal's dad who passed away (of old age!) on Friday. His visitation yesterday drew several hundred, and it was a good-sized crowd at the church today. He must have been a good guy.
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Going to visitations and funerals is a bit of Daddy's legacy. I'll always remember his frequent attendance at these events from my days on the farm. If there was a possibility that he knew the decedent, Daddy went to the rosary (for the Catholics) or the visitation (for everyone else). Not such a bad habit to inherit. Families remember who comes to Mom and Dad's funerals.

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Is Daytona still going on? I mean how long does it take to patch a pothole? The best quip I heard from a driver in the first delay was, "Put an orange cone in front of it. We'll drive around it!" (I'm betting that in the early days of NASCAR that exactly what they did.) My picks were busts. The winner might have been a dark horse pick as he won the Summer race there last year. Whatever.

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My return trip from Lincoln ultimately worked out OK, but it was pretty dicey winter driving conditions between Omaha and Des Moines. It was great to get the furniture transfer completed, and fun to be with 4 (especially the Macaroni Grille din-din), but it was also really good to be done with the driving. Winnie did fine except for a small accident at my pal Doug's house at lunch. She's now back in 2's responsibility zone. For a live-alone bachelor, dog-sitting works best in hours rather than days...:)

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I also heard the weekly Top 40 Country Countdown at least three times on the trip. Kind of interesting how songs go up the charts, and then slide down the charts as the weeks go by. Like attendance at the movies. We humans are fickle sorts. We really like something. Until we get a little bored and something that we like better comes along. And the old gets kicked out the side door. Or at least gets relegated to good memories.

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Big Monday. KU @ A&M. Trap game. KU giving 7. Take A&M. KU should win, but they definitely won't cover.

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I'm sure that the peanut gallery can appreciate that I just couldn't pass up on this Hi & Lois cartoon board in today's comics. Actually, a little surprising entry for the comic pages that are generally leftward-leaning.

On that note, I'll sign off for the evening. Make it a good one in your world.

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BCOT

Sunday AM

Hey to all from Cornhusker Country.

This is just a short entry to maintain a little flow here on the blog while on the road. The Winniferous was ready to get up by 0600, so we're bonding here on the new couches for a while before we wake up 4, do our Starbuck's run, and then head back East.

So here is my communal Valentine's greeting to my numbered progeny. It's not a vase of flowers or a balloon bouquet, but the thought is there. I don't think I do checks on Valentine's Day. Sorry.

And I'm a day late in giving recognition to 1.01 who celebrated her one month birthday yesterday. For that milestone (or is it a milepebble?), here's to 1.01 as a belated distinction of Granddaughter of The Day. This pic is a couple of weeks old, so I"ll try to get a more current one in the next day or two.

I see on Google News this morning that Nate Robinson won the NBA slam dunk contest last night during the All-Star weekend in Dallas. For the third time. Not that I necessarily care, but, uh, who is Nate Robinson?

It is Daytona today. (BTW, I did win the Under bet on Danica yesterday. She got collected in a multi-car crash in lap 58 of the 120 lap race.) My bet today, which is little better than a lottery ticket, is Kasey Kane or Brad Keselowski.

Maybe more here later.

BCOT

Friday AM

Just a short update this morning.

It looks like we have 2 and SRH heading to the TC this afternoon to greet 1.01 on her first Valentine's Day. LtPC and Winnie are going West to take furniture to 4. Lots of seat time for all. A small by-product: the oh-dark-hundred departure time tomorrow translates to no Biaggi's tonight. Pluses and minuses on that one.

My latest "lost keys" episode was this AM in my recycling bin. Along with a couple of empties, I tossed my keys into the half-full tub, then made the mistake of trying to pick them up with a gloved hand. Naturally, all that did was fumble them and allow them to trickle through the assortment of plastic, glass and tins all the way to the bottom of the container. So I had to lay four foot tall container on it's side, and pull all of the stuff out to get to the keys. At least I knew they were there.

Received valentines from Beantown, Lincoln and TC this week. Very suite.

UPDATE: I did receive my first free drink card from Starbuck's in yesterday's mail.

More tonight with the Winniferous.

BCOT

Wednesday

No blog tonight.

2 and I are headed over to an Augie game for the first time since before Christmas. And I'm going to sneak into a spin class at 1730 before I meet 2.

CNBC had Erin Burnett set up in front of The Alamo for her mid-day show today. I know that the rodeo is in town, but I think they have some high-tech thing going on as well. Whatever. They had Erin wearing one of the least-flattering props that I have ever seen a national anchor don: a 10 gallon hat that made her look like a clown. Cramer couldn't stop laughing. Wow. I hope they had plenty of muscle in the wings to protect her. The areas around The Alamo and away from The River Walk are a little sketchy.

The latest women athletes to take heat for exploiting their bods are Danica Patrick (auto racing)and Lindsay Vonn (skiing). There were some blogging criticisms of Vonn's SI cover being too sexy. And she was in her ski suit. They may have been the same people who felt that Scott Brown was too chummy with his bikini-clad daughters. Not sure who has the moral high ground here. Tiger? Girls wear bikinis. If wearing them in front of a camera gets them a few endorsement deals, go for it.

OK. Maybe a report later after the game.

BCOT

Tuesday

More snow for us. I'm guessing 5-7 inches over the last couple of days. Enough for me to re-schedule a trip to Des Moines tomorrow to either Friday or another day later this month. My friend/client Dr. Doug has tickets to the Drake - UNI game tomorrow night, but I don't need to spend 6-8 hours on iffy roads to see what should be a blow-out.
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It looks like I'm booked into Lincoln on Saturday to deliver some hand-me-down furniture to 4. One of her Iowa roomies now living in DM is getting some hand-me-down stuff from her parents, so 4 gets the tertiary pass-downs. Hey, when you have lawn chairs as your primary living room items, it's no time to be choosey. With LtPC as the delivery boy. Life is good.
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So just in case you've been under a rock today and missed it, here's the cover shot of this year's SI swimsuit edition. I mean, they put out separate display cases even at the grocery store for the issue. Which has no sports reporting at all. Not that I am objecting. CNBC has a special on it during prime time tonight, and they've been shamelessly plugging it all day, including an in-studio interview with the model during the lunch program. (Maria Bartoromo nearly choked when she had to read a final promo at the end of her show.) Even CNBC has bought into a basic of Marketing 101; Sex Sells.
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Next in line for over-exposure are (is?) the Vancouver Olympics which open this weekend. Is that a Sasquatch in the decal? I admit to having to consult Google maps to locate Vancouver. (Sorry, Seattle clan members. I am not smarter than a 5th grader when it comes to Canadian geography.) Al Gore must be a little bit happy; they've been hauling in snow for the skiing venue. I wonder how many personal-interest stories NBC will run on athletes who trudged 10 miles one way each day so that they could get to a skating rink to practice? Not sure which of the network interviewers I'll like least. Can't wait for the ice-dancing to begin. Whatever.
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Here's an item that has me very curious. The Taurus' gas gauge doesn't work. Hasn't since I bought it for 1 several years ago. So you have to monitor gas consumption by the trip odometer that you have to reset at each fill-up. I basically fill-up whenever I get to the 150 mile mark (and yes, I have run out of gas by forgetting to keep my eye on the mileage gauge). Usually, that means I put in around 8 gallons, given the in-town travel and the inefficiency of the older car.
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I had to stop for gas today and did so at a station that I rarely use toward central Davenport. I was under the 150 mile mark, but the pump registered over 11 gallons!. So I either, 1) didn't reset the trip odometer last time, 2) didn't actually fill the tank last time, 3)have a new issue with my car's gas mileage, or 4)the engineering on that pump has wandered off the reservation. (No offense to our Native American readers intended.)
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The most likely solution is 2 above, as I recall having had some problems recently with a pump that wanted to auto-shutoff after three gallons. It's not likely 1 or 3, and I would hope to think that the state regulators would be testing flow rates to prevent 4 from happening. But 4 was my first guess.
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That was really a long story. And not that interesting. Sorry.
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All for tonight.
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BCOT

Monday

Glad the Super Bowl is over. I was probably more of a Manning fan than New Orleans, but in the end, I really didn't care that much who won. Mostly, I was just tired of seeing and hearing nothing but Super Bowl stuff in the media for the last two weeks. Now, with the Pro Bowl already done too, we can kiss the NFL good-bye for a few weeks.

BTW, Revkev, I'm probably a no-show for the ride around the lake. I did that a few years ago and, while I was glad to say that I had done the circuit, I came away with little interest for a repeat performance. The South Shore half of the ride isn't much fun, and the traffic on the four-lane from Stateline all the way to the cut off toward Incline is like riding on the Interstate.

Big Monday bummer: Holly Rowe, not Erin, in Austin. (Observation: Bill Self will have a modified comb-over in less than five years.)

I had a client in on Friday who runs a Hallmark shop and he was saying that Valentine's Day being on a Sunday is bad for business. I'm still digesting that factoid. I mean, you're either going to get a card or not, and you're going to buy that nick-nack as a gift for your Valentine. Or not. Not sure that I understand the psychology of the weekend holiday difference.

The Davenport Gold's recently converted a room in the lower level to a cardio theater. They've got 20-25 treadmill/stepper/bike machines facing a theater-size screen, and they're showing video-released movies. I went in Sunday afternoon to do some treadmill work (since I was closed out of the morning spin class), and I decided to give the new room a try.

The movie being shown was some Renee Zellweger chic-flick. The sound was about three clicks too loud, and the room was at least as dark as a theater. I felt my way to an open treadmill and tried to get started. The bad news was that I couldn't read any of the dials on the panel and just kept hitting a few touch pads trying to keep a steady (read slow) speed. Whenever the movie had a brighter scene, I tried to use the light to read the panel. No luck. I tried to shine my Indiglo light from my Ironman with similarly fruitless results. Inside of 15 minutes, I gave up and went upstairs to the regular cardio area and watched golf. Is there a flashlight in the house?

The over-under on Danica Patrick still being on the track at the end of the Nationwide race at Daytona on Saturday? The race is 120 laps long. If the betting line is 80 laps, take the under.

It's supposed to snow several inches in the next 24 hours. So far, not bad.

Have a great Tuesday.

BCOT

Saturday Afternoon

Is there a more suspenseful sporting event to watch than than individual qualifying for a NASCAR race? Daytona 500 qualifying today on FOX. Budweiser Shootout tonight. Twin 125's on Thursday. The Great American Race on Valentine's Day. Hello 2010!

And just so that you know, the peloton opens the European season tomorrow (sometime tonight, our time) in the Tour of Qatar with a team time trial in the desert.

And for the traditionalists, pitchers and catchers are due to report in less than two weeks. Now that is a true sign of Spring.

I'm sitting on my couch with Winnie catching all the Saturday TV sports action. 2 is picking up a friend at ORD and I'm the designated sitter. We're doing a three mile run a little later.

An item of news from the office came across my email yesterday about a money manager firm that I have used in the past. Turns out that the owner of the firm bit on an elaborate tax shelter scheme beginning in the mid '90's, was investigated by the IRS, found wanting (to the tune of eight figures of tax and penalties), and recently lost the battle in Tax Court. He's now resigned from his company, I'm sure in hopes of saving it, and has had to come public with the details. The case report is 75 pages long and has him well-filet'd.

I did some clean-up work for some clients of a tax attorney in Phoenix in the '80's. They had bought into an off-shore scam that supposedly allowed income from a US operation to be laundered through a foreign corporation or trust, and escape US taxation. This new case is not a lot different. Kind of funny/odd when otherwise bright and successful people allow themselves to be taken in by scheisters selling something that seems too good to be true. If it smells bad, looks like too good of a result, and has more twists than a python, chances are the best advice is to not walk, but run, the other way.

A random factoid from the golf telecast: the PGA event this week, The Northern Trust Open from Riviera CC in the LA area, has hired former NBA great (and the league's logo-boy), Jerry West, as it's Executive Director. Interesting. He's got history there with the Lakers as a player and in the front office. But his last NBA job was in Memphis, and his home is West Virginia. But he brings credibility into the room and his involvement will be good for the tournament. Now, if he can just re-hab Tiger, get him to play there, and keep him inside the ropes. No small task there.

Had to get on the Illinois I-Pass website this morning to change the license plate for the Buick's Illinois toll road electronic signal. If the Italians can track me down seven time zones away, I'm guessing that Illinois would eventually catch on to the inconsistency. Technology is an amazing thing.

OK. It's a little late, but here's my Top Ten Goals for 2010; not necessarily in order of importance:

1. Tahoe. I'm not yet committed on riding Mt. Rose.
2. 15-25% growth in business gross income. Not easy, but doable.
3. 53 minutes in the Turkey Trot.
4. Read more. Let's say 25 books.
5. Chicago or St. Louis for a FFF baseball weekend.
6. College World Series in Omaha for a weekend.
7. Write a short story. 25-30 pages.
8. Modified two days of TOMRV. With last year's friends.
9. Additional upgrades at my house.
10. Improve core strength with consistent exercise.

So I need to hit the road with Winnie for my run. Maybe more here later.

BCOT

Friday AM

Just a few lines this morning. We have a little snow coming down right now. Just enough to slicken-up the roads.

Tough day in the markets yesterday. Lots of concerns about sovereign debt in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Toyota gas pedals. US deficits. A possible China growth bubble? All I can say is, "Buckle up, Buttercup."

I did not previously comment here on the results from Ground Hog Day. Six more weeks of Winter would seem to be a safe bet this year. But really, how did Ground Hog Day get started? If Hallmark Cards didn't come up with it on it's own, I'm betting that the agency who has advised Hallmark on the various days to celebrate (i.e., Left-Handers' Day, Peruvian Incan Day, and who can forget, Barbershop Quartets' Day?) was in Punxsutawney one day and we now have Bill Murray in his most memorable role. Whatever.

So I figured out how to post pictures to Walgreen's Photos. Turns out that I've had an account there for a long time, but my original enrollment was before my digital camera ownership days. Pretty easy to transfer pics to the site, so look for more use of it in the future.

Check out the new plates for the Buick!!! I had received the notice that they were "in" a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't taken the time to pick them up until today. When I was in Muscatine yesterday, the local cops gave me a ticket for expired plates, even though the offense is not even their juristiction (maybe), and the penalty date doesn't start until March 1st. Whatever. It was a good reminder to get current, so I did. Suite.

Low key weekend in store for me. More entries here fo' sure.

BCOT

Tuesday

I know that this is not an exact repeat of a question here previously, but the concept is the same; "What happened to January?" With February being a short month by definition, one could make the case that the first quarter of the year is all but gone. I will most certainly be on my bike outdoors next month.
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The trip home Sunday from the TC was uneventful. But long. By rendevouxing with 4 in Mason City, 4 actually had the longer solo drive. Neither of us had done an adequate analysis on projected driving times, and I wanted to take advantage of the angle-route through Waterloo. The result: her drive from Lincoln to DM and then North was an hour longer than mine. She says that her next trip to the TC will be by air. She's probably right.
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My latest issue with my "smart" phone is that my appointments come up on my Outlook calendar three hours later than actually scheduled. Now, the time on the face of the phone is correctly CST. And the appointments appear correctly on my desk-top Outlook calendar function. So somewhere in the phone Settings page, I've got a wrong time zone for the calendar page. And of course, it's not on the Calendar or Time menu pages. (I wonder if there's a bug in the sync function?) Whatever. Love the flexibility of the HTC.
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The new Home Page photo here was taken from my Buick at 78mph on Sunday afternoon. Looking Northeast along Highway 27 in central Iowa. I thought that the desert scene was a little off point given the cold and snow.
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I'm always amazed at the Super Bowl hype among the sports media the week before the game. Mike & Mike on ESPN2 have been broadcasting their morning show from Miami all week, and have Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer sitting with them giving their takes on the game. It gets a little old. Today, they were talking about the special bets that Vegas is offering, such as the number of TV shots of Archie Manning and Kim Kardashian. Heavy topics.
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The Big O got in trouble this week for again dissing Vegas in a speech by referring to what you don't do in times of economic challenges. As in "drop some cash in Vegas." Does that mean Vegas is only relevant in good times? The wags can debate that one.
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So this was supposed to be published last night, but I had it in draft form when I left the office, and just never got back to it at home after my treadmill work at Gold's. Sorry.
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Early spin this morning. Almost a turn-away crowd. Those New Year's Resolutioner's are hangin' tough.
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Have a great day.
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BCOT

Monday

More to follow...

Saturday

Very low-key day up here in the TC.

Anyone notice the "wolf" moon last night? There were several stories on the wires about the why's and wherefore's. Check out News on Google for the details. No question that it was bigger/brighter than average. The pic is not mine. (Duh!) Pretty cool.

1.01 has been the star of the weekend. She sleeps a lot. 1 had her at the doc this morning for a routine follow-up check, and the report was 100% positive.

The Woodbury Gold's is a big place with lots of equipment and facilities. On a Friday night, I had to hunt to find an available treadmill at 5:30. And this morning, the place was packed. Predatory trainers. I'm going to try to do a spin class at 0800 tomorrow.

There's a little controversy on the PGA tour this week. And it doesn't involve Tiger's extra-marital activities. The Rules Committee made a change last year, effective for 2010, to bar wedges with square grooves, in an effort to control some of the technology that took lesser skill to work the ball. But they also had to recognize a 20-year-old ruling allowing the square-grooved Ping wedges manufactured prior to 1990.

Phil Michelson and a few other players are using the old wedges this week and are being called out as cheaters by some of the other players. The argument is that they aren't following the spirit of the new rules. I disagree. If the old wedges are okay, then it's not cheating, for crying out loud. I'm sure that Rick Reilly or others will opine on this in a column soon. You heard it here first.

Our wine last night included an Italian sangiovese that we had to take back this morning. The store that we shopped at had a real good selection, and I purposely picked out three bottles from Italy to tout my visit there last Fall. Unfortunately, none we especially memorable, and we should have stuck with J. Lohr. They gave us credit for the returned bottle, and we did replace it with J. Lohr.

Erin is in the house for the KU - K-State game tonight in Manhattan. Looks like I'll be finding out the score on-line as the TV has been switched to Miss America. My sight-unseen-prediction of Miss Texas stands no chance. (Spoke too soon...she made the semi-final 15.)

I normally have a good sense of direction, but I have not found True North for the stores and roads around 1's house. It's almost to the point where I feel like I should take the route in direct opposite of my instincts. Maybe Google Earth could help.

Toyota has some problems. Their PR guy took a page from the political book and has blamed George Bush.

More from the road tomorrow.

BCOT

Thursday

Just a couple of lines tonight.

Departure for the TC around 0845 tomorrow. The Friday entry here will be from Minnesota.

The funerals yesterday did what they always do: they remind you that life is short. Regardless of how long one lives. Both of the decedents lived well.

The preacher at the funeral of the long-time bicyclist included the comment: "Life is a verb." I'm pretty sure that "life" in that sentence structure is a noun, but why quibble with grammar?

The other "take-home" from that service was that the Taps bugler in the military portion of the service did a lip-sync rendition. A lousy one at that. He put the bugle to his lips, and someone played a tape! He didn't even blow into the bugle. What a crock! Milli Vanilli at the cemetery.

I'm sure that there will be some photo additions here over the weekend of the other sisters, so here's shot of 2 as Daughter of the Day for earning A's in her last two MBA classes. You 'da girl!

Have a great TGIF.

BCOT

Tuesday

There was a guy on CNBC today who I just happened to catch because his last name, Elmendorf, caught my eye. Elmendorf Air Force Base (Anchorage, Alaska) was a major stopping point for aircraft flying through Dover during my tour there in the '70's. Anyway, this guy, Douglas Elmendorf, was/is a very bright guy who is the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

His message, very clearly, was that the math in DC just doesn't add up. This was/is the same mantra beat by my buddy David Walker. Unless substantial changes are made, by 2020, the only expense covered by discretionary spending would be interest expense. Check out his blog at: www.cboblog.cbo.gov Something's gotta give.

Interesting that the NFL has decided to try it's Pro Bowl on the open week before the Super Bowl. In South Florida. This is a game that has been played in prior years in Hawaii. The game itself has never meant as much to the players as the opportunity to lounge in the Islands with family and friends. With some of the top players otherwise occupied with the championship game, the allure of the All-Star game is dimmed further. Then again, it is football, held while there is at least one more game that matters. Whatever. Bring on the Lingerie Bowl!

Spin in the early AM. A funeral and a separate visitation to attend tomorrow. I may find myself too busy to catch the SOTU testimonial tomorrow night.

BCOT

Monday

Winter came back! Snow. Blowing snow. A good night for chicken noodle soup.

The virus on my computer was pretty nasty. The IT guy spent most of the afternoon isolating it, and killing it. Not sure of the dynamics, but the warnings came on yesterday right after I downloaded that most-recent pic of 1.01 from my phone. Not saying that 1 was guilty of anything.

I've got to admit that I generally enjoy Monday nights on ESPN this time of year. Big Monday. Usually a Big East game at 6 CST and a Big 12 match-up at 8. Tonight, the Big 12 game is Mizzou-KU from Lawrence. Not exactly friendly rivals. The downside this year is that Erin may be too big of a star to do sideline reporting for these games. Holly Rowe is easier to schedule.

How bad is Indiana? Losing yesterday to Iowa by 15. At home. Didn't see that coming. But I'm still taking the under on the "5 " line for total Iowa Big Ten wins this year. They have two.

The office phone system is pretty much in place. I now have the ability to forward direct calls from my desk unit to my cell phone. If I can figure out the instructions. One by-product of the new arrangement that Uncle Phil noted today is that the old 800 number has been retired. When we set up the new lines, the consensus was that the 800 number had out-lived it's usefulness. Nationwide cell plans being the main determining factor.

Not sure that the Super Bowl will capture a lot of interest from this end. It's too early to determine if a Super Bowl party is in my future, which would be the primary reason for my interest. There was a time... Pre-costume-malfunction days.

Looks like a trip North and a little modified FFF is on the schedule for this weekend. 3 and 4 get to formally meet 1.01. I'll get to experiment with the computer and phone in a digital roaming environment again. US Cellular (my carrier) rents their coverage in the TC, and I have had trouble getting my office email.

All for this evening. Hope everyone is having a good start to the week.

BCOT

Sunday

Another gray day in River City. Rain for most of the last 24 hours. My sump pump has been working overtime. In January? Where does that come from?

Really a good spin class this AM. The New Year's Resolutioners make all but the oh-dark-hundred classes turn-away crowds. You have to call in advance to reserve a bike, and if you aren't there on time, it goes to anyone waiting. I waited until after the Friday evening class to reserve a spot for a Saturday morning class, and it was tough luck, LtPC. Lots of new faces. Which is all OK. I mean 2-3 spin classes a week is plenty.

Here's a new shot of 1.01. 1 reports that the first week has been successful and that 1.01 has already been accepted on a full academic ride to Harvard. There are lots of pics on 1's Walgreen's photo page.

I just got a warning that I have a virus on my machine so I'm going to have to shut down and run the anti-virus program. If it goes well, I'll be back on later.

BCOT

Saturday

I have been a little deficient here this week. Guilty as charged.

The lament in our area is for the lack of sunshine. The temperature has been 20's-30's with constant cloud-cover and moisture in the air. Wednesday night it iced-up everything, and I ended up staying at Roy's after the party at the club that night. There saying more snow early in the week. It's winter.

I made it in as scheduled Wednesday, but my checked bag came in on Thursday. That Detroit connection to here is just a long way between gates. I had an hour between flights, but that's obviously not enough time for the baggage carriers. They delivered it to my house Thursday morning.

The talk over coffee these days is the change of focus in DC from health care to the banks. The Big O's politic-ing over bonuses sent a shiver through the markets. My personal belief is that the members of the House and Senate who are looking at re-election this year have figured out that the climate among their electorates is a bit sketchy. And we all know that the most important thing to politicians after they get elected, is to get re-elected. (Grandpa H excepted, of course.)

I did sign up for Hertz's #1 (or Priority?) Club for ease in future rentals. It's a $60 annual fee. It's a little like paying the freight for the RCL: you don't necessarily need the service, but you value the result. Kind of like tipping well. If you're likely to go back to the restaurant or bar, you might want the staff to remember you in a good way. Which is usually translated to cash remuneration.

The Radio Shack boys (Lance included) haven't had much to cheer about at the Tour Down Under. The race is really getting only nominal coverage on the cycling websites. Since the racing is done while we are sleeping, there's a disconnect to closely following it. Kind of like watching Asian Olympics on tape-delay. They do have nice uni's.

All for now. More from SB's in the AM.

BCOT

Tuesday

Another day with Mickey. This representation, just outside the conference facility at the Contemporary Resort. Really a beautiful day down here. After lunch, almost too hot to sit in the direct sun.

To get to an 0700 local "early-riser"s" session, I was driving in the dark and the fog. With no reference points, I was entirely dependent on the road signs, and they seemed to take me on a very circuitous route to the hotel. I remain amazed/impressed with the sheer size of Walt Disney World. And the turn-offs, clover-leafs and ramps seem very sweeping and wide. Whatever. Walt had it figured out. Bring your credit card (with no limits).

(Watching Super Tuesday basketball on ESPN tonight, Purdue at Illinois, as I write this. Erin is in the house in Champagne. Suite.)

The key-note presentation at the program this morning by David Walker was worth the price of admission. I took the opportunity to chat him up for a few minutes before he took the stage to thank him for making the trip to our meeting. He's a high energy, but very humble guy. One in that small group of folks whom I would walk across the street to greet. He said that he had been on Jon Stewart's show last night, as was scheduled for Glen Beck's show later today. (What a contrast! Like I said, he's politically agnostic.) He's got a new book out. More on that in a future entry.

This conference went "green" by not printing a two pound book with all of the presentations for all attendees. Most sessions were "break-outs" where you chose one of three options. They did have a "print station" with 5-6 high-speed printers where you could go and print the outlines for the sessions that mattered to you. I'm sure that the total printed pages was less than that for full books for everyone, but I think that they need to go to the next step which would be down-loadable outlines only. (One other conference last year had the book on disk.)

The Massachusetts senatorial election today will give the political wags something to spin for a few days. I have said for quite some time that the citizens will eventually get it right. The populous doesn't take kindly to being used or mislead. Not sure that that is what happened in the Bay State, but all of the candidates in this year's elections should take pause and make sure that they understand their electorate (except maybe Chicago).

Space Mountain and the Castle from the Magic Kingdom are both visible from the conference center. So are the three million kids visiting the complex.

Now need to hit the hay and pack as I have an oh-dark-hundred wake-up call so that I can get to another 0700 "early-riser" presentation in the AM. I'll leave at the mid-morning break for my noon flight back to the Midwest. Hope the forecasted ice-storm doesn't materialize.

More from the road tomorrow.

BCOT

Monday

I'm in the middle of a two-hour session on fixed-income securities. No wonder 3 didn't want to work Municipals for Goldman.

I'm pretty sure that I've never been in Disney's Contemporary Resort before today. This is the hotel where the monorail actually goes through the main building. If you click the second pic, you can see the train arriving to the hotel.

The convention facility is off to the side of the hotel. I'm sure that the business model was to have a large convention hall to attract organizations whose members would see the destination as an opportunity to mix business with family. The time we brought the girls down here, I had a conference at one of the other Disney hotels. SRH took the girls to the theme parks while I was in session.

The one observation that I can make generally, is that the structures here are showing some age. The hotel row coming down to Disney City from the Lake Buena Vista exit on I-4 has changed little in the 20-odd years that it has been that I first came here. The properties were always a bit understated, and now with the paint fading and the stone walkways cracked or smoothed from use, I'd say that there's a need in the long term plan for some upgrades. My guess is that the kids don't mind any of this.

(I initially thought that my hotel up in Lake Buena Vista, a Holiday Inn, was a bit run down. In relation to what I have seen today, maybe it's just showing the same age as everything else around here.)

I successfully blew passed the first toll booth coming on the Florida Turnpike yesterday coming out of the airport. Not consciously, but I mis-interpreted the over-head signs for the up-coming exit, toll booth and open-road electronic lanes. I ended up in the e-toll lanes as I was trying to avoid the exit. I suppose that I'll get a "greeting" from Hertz in a month or two. Any estimates on the cost of a missed $0.75 toll?

And the grocery store at the entry to the Disney Hotels road was/is real evidence of opportunity pricing. My guess is that they basically take normal retail and add between 50-100% for anything costing less than $5. The cheapest fruit was oranges at $2.99 per pound. Ouch!

I saw a few T-shirt stores and I will be stopping to find a deal on four Extra-Larges for $10. With patches as necessary.

More later.

BCOT