Tuesday...UPDATED

I wrote most of this on Monday evening, but I cut away for a walk with The Winniferous, and never got back to it.  The perils of semi-dog-ownership!

Here's a blog rendition of a Twitter pic from 2 from Monday afternoon down on the South Shore.  I guess I'll wait until I see 2 before I can post up a few more photos from the Tahoe gathering.  I think this one was a toast to my pal Wally whom many of you may only know as the wild-card (and non-official) entry from the clan's March Madness contest.

Had another close friend receive a prostate cancer diagnosis within the last few weeks.  My age.  Retired military reserve...full Colonel.  Practicing attorney.  Now scheduled for treatment in C-town with the proton-ray program of some sort.  Prognosis is good, but the road getting there is bumpy.  It all makes you glad for each healthy day.

If the NFL can get a deal done, shouldn't the politicians be able to do so as well?  With apologies to my progressive readers out there (assuming that there are some still there!), the political posturing by the White House is absolutely disingenuous.  The new drinking game should use the Big O's use of the term "corporate jet owners" as the shot-inducing phrase.  You betcha!  If any you out there think that this theater is about anything other than independent voters and the 2012 election, you need to check your medications.

Here's a newly learned factoid about the post-TdF criterium races that are held in the weeks immediately after the Tour at various locations throughout Europe.  The riders are routinely paid to participate, known as appearance fees.  And the winner (and maybe the top three places) are set up in advance! Just like pro wraslin'!!!  Its all about the show.

Lance Armstrong is making a scheduled appearance on RAGBRAI today.  The ride goes from Carroll to Boone.  Click on the image to get something that you can actually read.  70 miles of Iowa-type of flat-to-rollers would take the pro peloton maybe 2.5 hours (or less if they were motivated).  I'd be there in 5, not counting pit stops.

Lance had originally said he'd be in the ride for two days.  My guess is that he will be in-there and outta-there in short order.  He kinda keeps his commitment, but time in central Iowa can't be all that high on his list, regardless of how good the cold beer tastes.

I swapped vehicles with my pal Cal this morning so that I would have the SUV to pull a U-Haul this weekend in Lincoln.  Its a full-sized GMC Yukon like this one.  Nice ride.  The interesting thing is that the instrumentation, dash board and widget-placement is all virtually identical to the Buick's.  So I'm not searching for controls or stuff like I would be if it was a non-GM vehicle.  But it is big!  And to think I spent years driving similarly-sized trucks.  Don't think that it will be a gas saver.

I have lots of organizing and planning to get done today for an oh-dark-hundred departure tomorrow for the rest of the week.  I wonder what I will forget?  I have this internal check-list that has become pretty standard over the last 3-4 years, but if I don't write it down, I invariably omit an item or two that I would have preferred to bring along.  Chargers and drugs are at the top of the list.

I'll try to get back on here this evening.  No guarantees.

UPDATE...Not much to add, but not quite ready to call it a day.

My evening has been mostly a bust.  I made the effort to get over to the Illinois side for a visitation for a one-time client.  But the line was almost out the door, not moving, and I didn't have the 90 minutes that it would have taken to get to the family.  Then I had to go all the way to Rock Island to get back to Iowa because of traffic on the I-74 bridge.  There were a couple of other errands, and walks with The W.  I've made the command decision to pack at oh-dark-hundred.

The big news locally is a couple of 13-14 year olds dying by electrocution while detassling in a nearby Illinois corn field.  There's a lot of unknowns at this point, but they seem to have come into contact with some live wires around some big irrigation arms.  I'm guessing that there was some horsing around involved, but nobody is talking as to where or why the live juice was on on machines that weren't irrigating.  So now there are lots of questions for all of the teenage crews that normally perform this work.  If I were a parent, I'd be more than a little concerned.

There are some serious moving parts in the fam over the next few days.  Travel safe, people.  And good luck with the airlines.

BCOT





BCOT

Saturday

Funny day here, weather-wise.  Cloudy early, some showers, then heat and humidity, more clouds, and periods of rain this evening.  Always humidity in the air.

We've had quite a bit of RAGBRAI traffic through town the last few days.  The ride starts tomorrow morning in Glenwood.  I guess that there's a segment of riders who meet up in the destination town and then take other transportation to the western border.  I know that they have a few nuts who actually ride to the western border and turn around to make the RAGBRAI ride back to the Mississippi.

The TdF ends tomorrow morning in Paris.  The stage is generally ceremonial, although the sprinters normally have a last shot at a stage win.  My bet would be on Mark Cavendish, the Manxman.  He's won the last stage each of the last two years.  The overall winner should be Cadel Evans.  He performed best among the contenders in the individual time trial today, as expected, and has a couple of minute lead.  He could only lose if he crashes, or has some other catastrophic problem.. Since I have been following the Tour, nothing has happened on the last day.

Sounds like 3 and Herky had an exciting day making their way from NYC to Reno.  (I am told that this is a true pic of 2 and 3 at the Incline Village Hyatt this evening.  I'll update it when a suitable replacement is received.)  Travel is such a pain.  The airlines are uniformly unreliable.  Surprised that it happened on an early Saturday morning.  My experience has been that it's a 50-50 thing, so I'm guessing that the return flight will be fine.

Have I mentioned here that my cycling computer has been stuck on the function to display kilometers as opposed to miles?  I have to multiply everything by 60% to convert my digital feedback to Anglo figures. There's some combination of buttons to press to get the output shown in English.  I need to pull the owners manual for the computer off the Internet and get the sequence.  (I had the problem with the Buick a few year back, but finally opened the Owner's Manual and it was an easy fix.)

I've been thinking that I am updating my will prior to my departure for Espana.  I did the same thing before 2 and I went to Italy.  I'm double-checking the instructions that I left back then.  Since I have such a large estate, I want to make sure that it will be appropriately divided.  Mt. Rose is still in the plan.  But I'm considering having the stone placed in Ottumwa alongside Margaret and Phil rather than at The Arsenal. Opinions, anyone?  Bueler?

One of my observations while walking The Winniferous has been a really nice flag display on a corner lot South of me on the street that parallels Maplecrest.  (This one isn't it, but you get the idea.)  I spoke with the owner the other night and she said that they had no hassle from the city or the power company.  They have the US, the USAF and Iowa flags.  And a well-designed/constructed, modest rock garden around the poles.  It's a good presentation and I may shamelessly copy it.

So I'm doing DeWitt in the AM with my pal Pete.  I'll get back on the blog from the coffee shop around noon.  There'd better be pics from the para-sailing!

And remember to...

BCOT

Thursday

This was a TdF day that I found it hard to pull away from the coverage on Versus cable.  The last 15 miles were on the route that I took up to the Galibier two years ago.  It was good to see the pain on the faces of the peloton.  The non-climbers came in to the finish over 35 minutes after the winner.  Those last 8 kilometers are not made for cycling!  Painful, but memories that will always be with me.

I also had a dental check-up this morning.  The hygienist was new and was pretty determined to get things done "right".  This led to a longer than normal appointment, and has since made me wonder how much time I have spent in a dentist's chair in my lifetime.  Braces.  False teeth.  Bridges. Root canals.  Extractions.  Regular check-ups.  Over/Under on total hours through age 62...say, 750.  That's a full month.  Hmmm.  Taking the Under, but it could be close.

Over/Under on my out-of-pocket costs for dentists, after age 21. (Whatever my folks spent on braces and other stuff before that age was their costs.)  Including braces for the girls and all dental insurance premiums.  Say $30,000.  Taking the Over.  Not going to add it up.

Hey to the vacationers at Tahoe.  Enjoy.  I know that all of us not there wish that we were.

The Winniferous and I are doing fine.  She is a needy dog!

Since when is supporting a balanced budget extremist thinking?  Just sayin'.

The Buick's radio is new enough that the digital face of the unit will name the singer and the song title as the songs are played.  This technology has been around for quite a while (although the Taurus seems to pre-date the feature).  I suppose that the stations need to have the right technology from the broadcast-end of things to get the proper signal out on the airwaves.  Probably just another application of the digital signal that NCIS is always tracing to the bad guys' phone or computer.

The point of the observation is that I noticed that this artist/title digital announcement is not embedded on the weekly Countdown shows that the local country station plays several times throughout the weekend.  They must get a tape or download a file from the Countdown show's producers that for some reason doesn't lay down that ID feature.  I wonder why?

A tidbit of local interest here in the QCA, one of the honorees in a week-long recognition of important women in Quad Cities sports history was Connie Shafer. http://qctimes.com/sports/high-school/article_7cdf01ee-b288-11e0-9ed0-001cc4c002e0.html  Give her the props.  But she was a strange lady.  My guess; she still is.

Hope Friday is good for all area codes.

BCOT

Wednesday...UPDATED

Happy Anniversary to 1 and 1.1. 

Hard to believe that it has been four years since that great weekend in the TC.  And we have 1.1 to make it even better today.

I know that I owe the crowd an addition to the blog.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do so later today.

Now Later...

Here is another pic of today's honored couple.  Obviously, this one is a little older...last year at the reunion.  1.1 has changed!

I never put the overlap together, but today is also the anniversary of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon in 1969.  For my generation (and older) the first walk on the moon has always been one of those events where everyone remembered what they were doing at that exact time.  For me, I was playing American Legion baseball in Galesburg, Illinois.

A sidebar in both the sports pages and the financial reports this week has been the suicide of an advisor in Texas who had money (several million in total) for investment from various college basketball coaches.  It got local press because one of the named investors is the Augustana College coach. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/ncaa/07/19/coaches.investment/ 

The NCAA is interested in this matter because the advisor also ran an AAU program which had several players make it to D-I programs.  Was there a quid-pro-quo to get the recruits if the coaches invested with the advisor?  A bit of a sticky whicket.  And that doesn't even consider the hardship of the coaches now being out of significant money.

Suicide in the financial business is not that uncommon.  We actually had a guy with my broker go over the edge a few years back when a lot of his clients lost tons of dinero on some deals that went South.  And there's always those old cartoons of the brokers jumping out the high rise windows, and getting calls on the way down.

My life for the next week just got a little more complicated.  My live-in visitor has arrived.  2 is leaving at oh-dark-hundred in the AM for her flight to Reno (leaving out of Midway around 1000 or so).  So The Winniferous and I get to re-new our friendship.

The heat is still on for a couple more days.  My new A/C unit has been a great purchase.  The quality of life on Maplecrest is way up the charts this year.

Finally, I'm thinking that 4 ought to be using these next 10 days to give us some of her highlights from Life in Lincoln over these last two years.  Who can forget these memories?  The first that comes to my mind is her non-graduation graduation.  Did the job require a degree, or just related experience?

OK.  Off to a walk and then bed.  No need for an alarm tomorrow.

BCOT

Sunday

The heat is on. Close to 100 on the thermometer outside my kitchen window.  It wasn't bad on the outward run up to DeWitt this AM, but by the time we got back around 10:15, it was everything that you wanted.  Not sure if optional outdoor activities this afternoon are in order.

Interesting to me that American Century has elected to quietly de-emphasize Lance Armstrong's profile in it's campaign to support The Livestrong Foundation with their sponsorship of the Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe.  They have Livestrong on all of the banners, posters and title shots at commercials, but Lance is noticeably absent (except for at least one non-credited appearance in a cancer spot).  He is under investigation by the government sleuths, and there's been plenty of accusations in the last year or so, but only smoke, not fire, so far.  Hmmm.  Cautiousness at NBC?

Speaking of doping investigations, how bad are the government lawyers in the Roger Clemons case?  I mean, how many hours of discovery, investigation, interrogatories and the like did they do, only to flub the judge's instructions?  The Rocket deserves double-jeopardy protection, even if he is guilty.  I mean, with all this government budget debate, how do they justify those prosecutor salaries?  Not a silly question.

And speaking of the budget debate, I've floated my national sales tax idea to several people this week, and its getting good reviews.  I mean, it gets everybody paying some tax, which is a revenue raiser.  Getting rid of a bunch of the tax deductions hurts the despised rich, and potentially reduces the number of IRS auditors checking on those three-martini-lunch write-offs. (It could also put some CPA's on a new road of some sort as well!)  I wonder what today's quantitative future value would be of a Masters of Science in Taxation degree if we cut 75% of the tax Code out of existence?  Just saying.

While my pal Pete and I rode through LeClaire yesterday, we stopped to look over the new wine bar-coffee shop now being built-out on the main drag.  We actually know the developer.  I'm skeptical.  Do any of those arty little places in LeClaire actually make it?  And don't you need some traffic to make a wine bar work?  And aren't there some dangers of having to drive several miles to drink?  As hard as LeClaire works to make itself a smaller Galena, I'm a non-believer.  Sorry.

Further up the road from LeClaire, I was very nervous, closely following Pete's wheel at 20mph (fast, on a bike, for me not him!) on a road with way too much traffic for a couple of cyclists'  I knew we were passing a little 9-hole golf course on the north/west side of the rode, but I couldn't remember it's name.  Hialeah or something, I thought to myself, too afraid to look up from Pete's rear wheel.

So I finally look over just as we fly by the entrance and see the sign that says "Olathea Golf Course".  Now my point here is, just how is it that the brain has the recollection that has some of the related letters of the name, and some of the phonetics, but not quite the whole thing?  It doesn't happen infrequently with me.  An its not my Sometimers.

I'm guessing that the synapses at work here are the same ones that allow you to read that chart that proves the brain can process the correct words if all the letters are there, even if they aren't in the right order.   http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/cambridge.asp  Actually, they're probably related synapses since we're talking about memory as opposed to word recollection.  An intersting hypothesis, nonetheless.

I'm taking a break for dinner.  Maybe more later.

BCOT

Thursday

Still like the look/feel of that snow storm shown above.

Today was the first BIG day in the mountains for the TdF.  Of three big hills that they went over, one was the target of my bike fantasy trip next month.  The Col de Tourmalet.  As noted earlier, it's not as high as Mt. Rose, but it separated  the men from the boys today.  Luz Ardiden was the next bump that they finished on, and I might try that one too.

I checked out the schedule for next week in the Alps, and they spend a lot of time in the area that I cycled two years ago.  In fact, they go up the Galibier twice!  From both sides.  I don't think they miss too many climbs in them thar hills.  When the Tour gets to Paris on the 24th, anyone who finishes is a full-fledged biker.

I kind of got caught up with the Twittering during the All-Star Game.  I can see how people get hooked on real-time reporting while at events.  Of course, you also have the old, "Does a tree falling in a forest with no one around make any noise?", issue as to whether one person's commentary thrown out into the electronic black hole makes any impact.  With my long list of followers, I'm betting the Under on that one.

One of the unfortunate by-products of last week's NASCAR race in Sparta, Kentucky was a traffic jam/parking cluster of Goliathian proportions.  Some people never made it into the track.  Can you imagine buying tickets for a big show, months in advance, and then find yourself  in a 15-mile back-up on the Interstate?  This was the maiden Sprint car race at the track after years of efforts to get a date.  (The track owner had to swap a date from another track that he owns.)  To say that they un-engineered the process is a slight under-statement.  How many roads do you build for a once-a-year event?  Can you say, car-pool?  Mass transit?  Bureaucracy?  Let's have the brains in DC figure it out!

Speaking of parking problems, is there a more common fact of daily life than one having to park a car? (I mean, if you have a car.)  What did these car lots do before there were cars?  How did Iowa City survive before there were cars?  What part of the GNP is/are parking fees?  I'm thinking Seinfeld episode here.  (Actually, there were several Seinfeld episodes where parking was a non-plot element.  Since it was a show about nothing, how can you have a plot?)  Doesn't the cost of operating a car need to include parking? I mean, if you didn't have a car, you wouldn't have parking costs, would you?

I have a solution to the debt-ceiling/budget debate in DC.  Not Buffet's (don't allow reps to run for re-election if they don't pass a balanced budget), but equally simple.  Let's do a National sales tax.  No exemptions.   Everybody pays.  On everything.  Start at 1 or 2 percent.  Raise it over a period of years to 5%.  Reduce the income tax brackets to a maximum of 25%.  Eliminate most of the tax deductions.  Get rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax.  It broadens the base and gets everyone to put skin in the game. 

This business of 50% of our population not paying tax is not the American way.  You can confiscate all of the income from the "rich" people and the budget is still under water. Taxing the rich is just politics.  They already pay more than their fair share.  If some are paying and others not, how is having only those who pay, pay more, more fair? 

No big plans for Friday.  But it's early.  Make it a good TGIF.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Tuesday

For the early part of this evening, follow my commentary on Twitter. @4kdays.

BCOT

Monday

I figured that it has been so hot and humid lately that my Home Page needed to counter the trend.  I'm already feeling cooler!

Hats off to PGA golfer Steve Stricker who managed to win the local tourney last weekend with a long birdie on the final hole.  He's had quite a three-year run here.  I've played the course several times.  The pros make it look so easy.  For the average golfer, it's a big challenge...lots of woods to get lost in, and plenty of other trouble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWT8yeHGA0U&feature=related  Here's the TV-car-caused crash from The Tour yesterday.  This was the breakaway group that stayed away, and the guy in green is now wearing the yellow jersey.  Talk about getting involved in the game!

I'm still trying to digest the weekend results.  I'm giving 4 Daughter of the Day honors for sucking it up and getting to KC on the back-way through Kansas in a car with no A/C in 90+ degree temps.  So hot that the Jack London went bubbly!

I'm thinking that future FFF's might require a minimum of three-night stays, especially with the reality that there will always be some elements of the group with travel challenges to face.  Don't know for sure.  But we need to do better than we did last weekend.  Just too many moving parts.

My pal Roy lives in a different world.  He flew to Richmond, Virginia yesterday (private jet, fo' sure) for a round of golf.  Back before my bedtime.  I'm betting that his cost per hole yesterday may have been more than the $5 it would cost you to play the Deere course where Stricker spent his day.

I had an odd email hit my Yahoo account last night about my Chase credit card.  Basically, they wanted a Yea-Nay on the validity of a charge yesterday to my card at a Wal-Mart in Dallas, Texas.  I was concerned about the alert being a scam itself.  Long story short, I called this AM to Chase and they confirmed the validity of the inquiry.  The Texas charge had been dis-allowed, so I didn't suffer any damage.  And they immediately cancelled the card number.

This was the same card that I used Saturday night at PF Chang's in The Plaza, and that I used at the Quick Shop for gas on Sunday morning.  Glad that Chase's system was so vigilant.  But it reminds you that while you may think that you are, you are never truly below radar.

NBC, associated stations, and their "news" personnel are so far in the tank for the President that it's even difficult for me to watch CNBC in the mornings anymore.  They must serve the kool-ade in the cafeteria at The Rock.

Need to hit the hay so that I'm ready for an early ride tomorrow.  It may be a two-a-day kind of day.

BCOT

Sunday -I-35 North

Just before departure from KC late this AM.  I haven't been able to edit the picture, so it's a little darker than it will be after I've been able to get it to my desktop.

Good times for the fam, but muted because of 3's last-minute plane cancellation.  We'll make it work next time, Kiddo.

More later from the 563.

BCOT

Wednesday

 http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=13437

Didn't realize that Brooklyn, Iowa money was behind this slice of NASCAR.
 
More later.
 
BCOT

Tuesday

It looks like the NYC travelers have returned to their roosts (if not roots), after a long day with Delta.  So why wouldn't 1 and 3 hit the road tomorrow?  Rolling stones gather no moss.  We are a band of seekers.

I had to take an off-day from training today.  The bod just wasn't ready for the abuse.  I may do penance by doing a two-a-day tomorrow.  The golf does a number on my back, and too many parts ache the next day.

The house where the Sunday night party was held was one of those big old places above River Drive that faces the Mississippi.  At least 100 years old.  Twice as big (or more) as our old place on Scott Street, with three stories and many, many rooms.  The guy who owns it has done a lot of renovations, and has lots more to do.  Just the thought of the toil and trouble that goes into the maintenance of an older home wears me out.  The Money Pit is not a fictional tale. 

I flip the TdF on in the AM at the office, and maybe a little for the replay at night.  I'm pretty sure that you could replay a stage from most anytime in the last 10 years and 98% of the viewers would have no clue of the irrelevance of the race being shown.  Except for a couple of the memorable mountain top finishes with Lance, these stage races look eerily similar from day-to-day, let alone, year-to-year.

Fun factoid: the guy doing color on the TdF broadcasts, Bob Roll, is scheduled to be our speaker here in the QCA for our local bike club's Fall dinner in October.

I always think of the scenery in the movie Chocolat when they do the helicopter shots of the little French towns along the route.  I liked (still do, I guess) Juliette Binoche from that film.

The Derek Jeter Watch is down to four hits to 3,000.  Not that he needs that number for the Hall of Fame, but it is a big deal.  Incredibly, the first Yankee to 3K hits.

Yahoo has redesigned their Mail pages.  As many of you know, I've used my Yahoo account as my primary non-business email for many years.  I think that everyone tries to keep up with Google and Microsoft...with varying amounts of success.  Where's Lycos today?

The household pests have come out of the woodwork.  Literally, I think.  In the last couple of weeks, I've had to spray for some funny flying things in my laundry room, and army ants at the stoop to my kitchen door.  Tonight, I found a left-over bone from The W's visit in a basement corner covered with crawly things.  Yuck.  Orkin may be on the way.

So, obviously no news here.  Headed to bed to be ready for the early ride.

BCOT

Sunday

Putting a few words down before getting a visit from The Winniferous.  2 is in charge of an evening fireworks-watching party at the museum, so I'll provide W with some entertainment for a few hours.

Didn't feel like doing the early ride to DeWitt this morning.  Only slept so-so, and had the body aches.  Pete had a couple of other guys lined up to join us as well, and I hate being an anchor on a group ride.  So I met Cal for coffee, read the paper, watched some of the TdF, and then took off for a solo tour of North Scott County roads.  Good ride to start the week.  To meet my 115 mile target, I'll need to be out there on the front end this week with KC on the docket Friday.

Here's my latest purchase: another Fuji Finepix mini-digi camera.  Its basically the updated version of what I've used for the past couple of years (and what 1 also now has).  The local camera store had a special on it, and there was a manufacturer's mail-in rebate, so I figured 4 could keep my old one (that I had loaned to her for the NYC trip).  Everybody wins!

To prove that it works, I took it on my ride this morning and snap a couple of pics.  The first is obviously taken from the same spot on the road that has produced a previous home-page shot taken with the earlier mini-digi.  The second is just the road sign of the Pioneer Village site on the north end of Scott County Park.  Nothing very exciting, but I like the feel of the camera.

The PGA Tour stops here this week for The John Deere Classic.  The community gets heavily involved with the event, and several of the bigger names on the tour are scheduled to play.  Steve Stricker will attemt to win the tournament for the third year in a row.  John Deere started a deal three or four years ago that has a chartered commercial jet lined up for departure from Moline next Sunday night after the tournament is over.  The charter takes the players (caddies, families and others) directly to the British Open in Great Britain.  There's a $1,000 charge per seat that Deere turns around and contributes to charity.  The charter is a big reason why those big names show up here.

I hadn't paid hardly any attention to the preliminary stories on the TdF which started yesterday.  There's still the doping cloud out there, and I just haven't been as interested in the races this year.  The route looks a little cock-eyed.  I'm wondering whether there is universal love for the event, or if maybe some towns grow tired of the traveling circus.  (Glenwood, on the Southwest Iowa border, for example, has little affinity for RAGBRAI after serving as the departure town several times.)

At least one of the local papers had this AP story a couple of days ago: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbbMwQ9ARigkEheQdfuLC4VDas3w?docId=336e5e0163194bbbb62d6fac7f8686ec  I'm guessing that the rafters "Truckin' Down the Truckee" might be problematic at this point.

Maybe a little more later.

BCOT...especially those tourists in NYC!

Friday

As promised, a pic from NYC.

3 and 4 lunching in Bryant park in The Big Apple.  Today.  Downloaded off of Twitter.  Suite!

More later.

BCOT

Thursday

Hey to the fam in NYC!  An emailed pic could get posted to the blog.

Professional football and basketball now both have labor disputes.  As of midnight tonight, both leagues will be in lock-out.  (Hmmm.  Will the Big O be asked to step in and part the waters?)  Obviously, it's all about the money.  The owners, seeing themselves as businessmen, want to make higher profits.  The players feel like, since it is their performance that makes the machine go, that they should get a bigger/better share of the revenue.  Its the classic dispute.

It's interesting that the public doesn't really reflect as negatively on the players as they do on other labor groups in high-profile situations...think Teamsters or the UAW.  And these pretty-boys make lots of money to play a game.  I think that the public has difficulty processing the fact that the boys in the helmets and jerseys are union participants.  An interesting morality play.

The early ride today was a drudge.  @bcbison was a true friend to pull me around the circuit, and to wait for me at the top of the hills.  In a new twist here at 4000 Days, he is Friend of the Day.  I'm thinking that it was just the moon and the stars, but I definitely am finding it tougher sledding this year.  I'm working on an intrinsical equation of age, mileage and barometric pressure to re-set my gearing ratio.  We live in the Age of Technology.  There's got to be a rear cassette that I can but on the bike to mitigate decreasing skill.

Big heat here tomorrow.   Mid 90's and humid.  I actually turned on the air in the house last night so that I could sleep.  I got too old to crash in the basement.

I have another problem.  The s--ty weather this Spring delayed my planting of any flowers around the driveway-side of my house until this week.  (I do enough to show a little interest, not a lot.)  I wrapped up my effort Tuesday night.  Since then, I've had a ground squirrel visit my begonias in the whiskey barrel twice!  Digging for who knows what, and doing no good for the flora in the barrel.  I either need The Winniferous or a rabbit fence at the top of the barrel. 

Okay, Mark Halperin was out of line.  But is the common nickname for Richard a slur?  Its not a compliment, and ought not to be used on live TV in reference to a President not named Richard, but come on, the guy behind the teleprompter is a Chicago politician! On the stump.  If it was Dubya, it wouldn't even be news.

Make it a good TGIF.

BCOT

Monday

The Lions had a good day today.  We Christians never found the high ground.  IRS 2 - LtPC 0.  Glad that there's a new scorecard tomorrow. 

For those who may have followed my earlier entry this evening on Twitter, I did open one of the new J Lohr top-shelf bottles that Roy delivered this AM.  Not sure if drinking alone is a bad sign, but surely it was proper to taste the new stuff.  2007 Cabernet.  Very nice.

This may be a first for me: pretty sure that a cramp in my right calf that happened in my sleep last night became a full-scale knot for all of Monday.  Almost like I was taking off on a steal for second, pushed off with my right leg, and step two was a pull-up and tag-me-out.  It still hurts.

Threw out an absolute shot in the dark for 4 today:  I sent an email to Joe Theismann's website to ask him if he had any sports media advice for 4!.  Over/Under on getting a direct response from Joe?  Not too optimistic, but ya' never know.  I pleaded on our ND history.  (Other than the fact that we shared an Area Code for four years, I'm not sure that there's a lot of common ground from Way Back When.  Actually, he did travel with us - baseball team - on a Spring trip to Florida one year.)  Stay tuned.

Okay.  I admit to being politically conservative.  But I'm not a Bible-thumper: if the boys and girls want to go to New York (or Iowa!) to get married, go for it.  There's much bigger fish to fry.  OTOH (On The Other Hand to the non-texting-savvy readers!), this following kind of logic makes me wonder if the Democrats think that The American Dream is simply a myth, or they've read the scripted points so long that they've lost any sense of reality:  http://cnsnews.com/news/article/geithner-taxes-small-business-must-rise

Off to bed.  For those still doing the battle, remember the Kevlar vest tomorrow.

BCOT

Sunday

Well, I have no excuses for being absent here over the weekend.  The schedule was not overly taxing: just didn't get started.  And the key to blogging is showing up.  At least I'm here now.

I'm giving top billing to 3 and Herky who spent the weekend in the 319 and the 563 for a Herky family wedding.  Let's officially give 3 the designation as Daughter of the Day.  We did a modified fff at srh4's place this afternoon.  Good stuff.  And without any effort, did in three bottles of vino to boot.  They are now on their way back to NYC, which will make for a very long day.

2 and I made a low-key stop at Biaggi's on Friday night, just to make sure that the place was still standing.  The place was a bit crowded, my normal table occupied, and quite a few folks waiting.  But the Assistant Manager pulled a couple of strings and got us one of the dining room tables in the bar area and we were able to bring over another couple as well.  Over-tipping has benefits.

Biaggi's is in the process of replacing the Manager who took over last Summer.  He must not have had the best people-skills, certainly as far as the female staff was concerned.  Almost all of the experienced female servers and department heads left the store after his arrival.  Haven't got the dirt, but with him no longer there, the story will likely seep out.

My pals Pete and Ron pulled me up to DeWitt and back this AM.  Somehow, we didn't benefit from much of any tailwind on the way up, but had to fight a pretty strong southeasterly cross-wind all the way home.  Why does it seem like I'm mostly riding into the wind, regardless of my heading?

My goal for the next six weeks is to get in 115 miles per week in preparation for Spain.  I've found that I can do four days a week without major problems: it's getting that fifth day into the schedule that's the challenge.  My body loses interest/energy/desire whenever I do three days in a row.  How can you ride five days in a week (in consecutive weeks)without doing three days in a row?  Maybe I need to expand the measurement period to three or four weeks.

The President is visiting this area on Tuesday.  Alcoa has a big plant on the East edge of Bettendorf, and the Big O is looking for some ink for the good news going on at the company.  Interestingly, Alcoa just got a big order from Airbus to supply material for some of their new planes.  (Airbus made a big splash last week at the Paris Air Show with like $72 billion in new orders.)  Airbus is the major worldwide competitor for Boeing.  Boeing being the company that the Administration's directed National Labor Relations Board is suing because the company had the audacity to build a new plant in South Carolina (a right-to-work state), rather than in Washington (a union state).  I'm a cynic, but I believe that there is a political ploy at play here.

It's a tangled web that we weave.

I can't believe I'm doing this, but Maureen Dowd actually makes this point in her recent column.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/opinion/sunday/26dowd.html

Busy week here.  Lots of moving parts in the fam.  Should be fun.

BCOT

Wednesday

Just a couple of quick points tonight.

What would they do for TV programs if they couldn't use lawyers, doctors, cops or any of their affiliated brethren for characters?  And what is it about those jobs/careers that the writers find so intriguing?  These questions are prompted by me catching the last 20 minutes last night of the new ABC program, Combat Hospital.  This show is a modern day Mash/ER wanna be which may or may not get an order for a few episodes past the pilot package.

I suppose that the lack of ideas is what drives the reality TV phenomena.  Let's watch people make fools of themselves over the course of 20 installments.  Not to say that these things can't be entertaining; they just play on a different emotion with the viewership.  Rather than the fantasy element of creative shows, reality programs hit at another spot in the brain.

Here's some ideas for some alternative, creative programming:

1.  Drama: A new media company fighting for a place in the new world of on-line stuff as well as the remnants of print and cable/satellite competitors.
2.  Drama: An IPO firm taking start-up companies through the maze of public offerings.
3.  Drama:  A California winery owned by 2-4 families.
4:  Comedy:  A company that recycles personal computers and other electronic equipment.
5.  Comedy:  A company that imports stuff from China.

I'm guessing that things like this are already on the desk of some producer in Hollywood or elsewhere.  I mean, If I can think of the idea, it surely has already been thunk of!

Of local interest, Dan Pearson is leaving Channel 6 to pursue some work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  I know that he is a pretty religious person, and the Athletes organization will give him the chance to merge his sports reporting skills with his Christian beliefs.  Good for him.  He's a good guy.

Then I had another TV thought.  The forgotten roles actors/actresses play before they "make it".  I caught a few minutes of the 1994 B or C grade movie The Chase with Charlie Sheen the other night.  (Speaking of actors and forgettable roles...but that's another topic for another time!)  That movie was the one that was a bit of a spoof on the OJ Simpson white Bronco low-speed chase on the LA freeways.  Anyway, in The Chase, the camera man hanging out of the TV helicopter and doing cheesy on-air reporting was the actor Rocky Carroll, who now plays the very stern character of Director Vance on NCIS.  You've come a long way, Rocky!

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Tuesday

I had planned to do a regular post this evening after my ride, but the best laid plans...

As I was lifting the bike up the steps to my kitchen door, I lost my balance, began to tumble off the steps, threw the bike away towards the driveway, but didn't quite execute a perfect toss.  I caught one of the pedals flush on my right shin with a solid hit.  Ouch!! It immediately popped up with a big hematoma that had me worried.

Fortunately, it happened almost in my kitchen so I was able to apply ice within just a couple of minutes, and the icing and elevation controlled the swelling.  (I had to have 2 run an errand to get more ice and some other things from the store.  She merits props for her service.)  I did wrap the ice in a kitchen towel and then wrapped the towel around the shin with several layers of saran wrap.  Just like they do with pitchers' shoulders after a game, or the basketball players and their knees.  It works.

I've officially designated this type of accident as Rule 23-c of Cycling: you'll eventually trip over your bike due to inattention to your surroundings.  It happens.

Summer solstice.  The only bad part is that the days now start getting shorter.  Don't like that.

This just hit Twitter.  Too cute! 1.01 is a star!!

I'll be on here tomorrow to add some education to the masses.

BCOT

Monday

This flooding along the Missouri River is getting a little out of hand.  4 took a day trip up to South Dakota to check out the dam situation (so to speak!) over the weekend.  Lots of water out there.  And they say that the water could stay in the flooded areas for weeks.  I don't get it.

Then there're the wild fires in Arizona.. Al was correct.  Global warming.

Speaking of the College World Series...Ameritrade Park doesn't have the same ring to it as Rosenblatt Stadium.  I'd be curious to get some input from 4 on what the local sentiment has been with the move to the new ballpark.  I haven't heard/read any bad news about the new digs.  I mean, it is in Omaha.  To a college ball player, they want to go to Omaha.  In prior years, they never said that they wanted to go to Rosenblatt.

I made the observation on my Charleston trip that the public is pretty adaptable.  Rules and costs change, and people evaluate the lay of the land, and they make choices.  For most of my years in business, you "carried-on" your bag because you were afraid of it getting lost in the system.  Today, carry-on has become much more prevalent as most airlines have elected to separately charge for checked baggage.  And folks don't like paying that extra fee.  I know I don't.

Since Delta gave me plenty of time to watch terminal activity on Monday, I was able to see first-hand the increased predominance of passengers pulling the smaller bags that fit in the overhead bins.  It seemed like even the sophisticated, first-class type of passengers were waddling through the concourses with that little hitch in their giddy-up caused by that bag-in-tow.

So people now may pack a little lighter.  The extra pair of shoes may stay home.  Same thing for that extra sweater or jacket.  You make the trip with less.

There's a political lesson in there, but it's too late to figure it out tonight.  Maybe another time.

My faith in contractors remains below water.  The guy who I had do the mulch last week ignored my request to use some garden soil that I had in the garage for the two yew plants that I had him replace in my front yard.  The one plant in particular failed to previously make it because it was originally planted in pure clay.  Which is still the same soil in that spot.  Alas, it was too difficult of a request.  It required him opening a door, pushing a button to raise the garage door, and carrying the bag to the front of the house.

I have said now since we built our office building 22 years ago, that a contractor will earnestly listen to your requests/directions, and nod/say the affirmative response to carry out that request.  And then once you have left the site, he does exactly what he wants to do without the least regard to your expressed desires.  For the contractor, it ain't lie'in, it's just bid'ness.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Sunday

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there.  It's OK to give Dad the day off today.  He'll show up for duty tomorrow.

My day started early with a 0615 departure to meet my pal Pete for our ride to DeWitt.  Really a good morning for the trip: little wind, cool and the regular light traffic-count out on the roads.  45+ miles, which was my longest ride thus far for the year.  Breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe is always worth the trip.

I was fortunate enough to get back in time to see RevKev at the coffee shop before he took off for California.  Where else would we meet?  2 was a little concerned that the exciting life that she leads here in the QCA was going to be too much for a West Coast guy to handle.  I'm guessing that RevKev got just the right amount of entertainment.

Sounds like his travel home has been another "Delta" story similar to my return from Charleston last Monday.

My other chunk of time today was a 90-minute one-way trip over to Oregon, Illinois to attend the funeral service for a gentleman who passed away last month at age 89.  I had done tax and consulting work for him for the last twenty-five years, and he was definitely worth the trip.  He flew B-24's in WWII, had two successful business careers in agriculture equipment sales, and then started a new company once he retired!  So I was only around for the last quarter of his life.  He lived a full one.

My route over to Oregon took me passed Grand Detour, Illinois, original home of John Deere (the man).  While the historical aspects of Grand Detour are noteworthy, my connection comes from a bike ride that I did a couple of times in the early 90's called Le Tour of Grand Detour, sponsored by John Deere's corporate Home Office.  I think they ceased the ride after it became apparent that we ran most of the taverns along the way out of product each year.  Maybe not the image JD was looking for.  Hmmmm.

Didn't even see a minute of the golf tournament today.  The winner was too good for the field this year.  The amazing thing about golf is that next week, he could be off his game and miss the cut.  A wise man once said, "When you hit a horrible shot, and say that it is the worst shot you've ever made, remember that it will likely not be your worst shot for long."

Many thanks for the thoughtful Father's Day gift.  2 delivered the goods earlier this evening.  Now we just have to figure out how to spool it up to operational status.  I've included the card in the pic as it was a really nice card!  It's making it's way to the wall of memories tonight.

Just a short note also to recognize a pseudo-fff last night with RevKev and srh4 on Maplecrest Road.  The stars of the evening were on the grill.  Makes me look forward to KC.

So hope everyone has a good week. 

BCOT