Friday

The heat wave has made life outside here a bit uncomfortable.  The humidity has not been as bad, but Fit Club in the 90+ heat last night had us all drenched by the end of class.  More of the same in the forecast for the next few days.

I'm entering some uncharted territory here at the office.  I've elected to reduce staff by one full-time position effective end-of-business today.  My practice has become less paper-intensive over the years, and my list of tax returns has been pared-down to a much smaller number.  The basic need for a full-time administrative assistant has largely evaporated.  I'll need to handle more of the ministerial tasks myself, and the phone, and I'll need to find some part-time word-processing help.  But I like the idea of approaching my future with a more productivity-oriented stategy.  We'll see.

I've really been aggrevated by the play-list of the local country station this week.  Seems like every time I'm in the car they have Keith Urban or Rascal Flatts going.  Once something gets under your skin, its hard to ignore.

Lots of moving parts this week in the fam with the bachlorette party in C-town.  Safe travels to all. Be careful out there!  The W and I will keep a watch out on Twitter for reports.

Interesting that the Supreme Court's ruling on the healthcare law came down to one guy deciding not to reverse the work of the two chambers of the legislative branch.  With an interpretation (Its a tax!) that the bill's supporters spent months (years?) arguing that it was not.  So the Democrats win by raising taxes on lots of folks outside the 1%?  The spin doctors will be working overtime.

So I'm not sure if I was more disinterested yesterday in the Supreme Court ruling or on Ann Curry's departure at The Today Show.  Her inability to attract/keep viewers may say something about the public's appetitie for the drivel on which she chose to report.  (Okay.  I don't watch Today.  But that doesn't mean that I can't trash it.)

A story in the local fishwrap this AM related a story on the founder of our Happy Joe's pizza chain losing a vacation home in the Colorado forest fire this week.  He was quoted as saying that, "Anything that could burn, burned to ashes."  Mother Nature has a very unforgiving nature.  Of course, this had to have been Rush's fault in some way.

Actually, I do have a comment about the negative impact on a person's mental balance of the constant drumbeat of talk radio.  My pal Roy has satellite radio in all of his vehicles, even the golf cart.  Most of the time, he has it tuned to FOX News.  The gospel preached on that channel doesn't vary and the obscure nuances that get incessantly run to the ground could probably be used at Gitmo.  The Gospel according to MSNBC from the Left likely has the same, but opposite, effects.  Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts are even better than the political drone.

Hope everyone has a good TGIF.

BCOT

Tuesday

Testimony to my lack of interest in TV programming these days is the victory last night by Arizona in the College World Series.  The couple innings of that game that I watched were the first two innings of the entire tournament that I took the time to view.  The new stadium in Omaha looks like the real deal. 

I was in a discussion the other night with a friend and the topic drifted over to the future of currency in everyday usage.  Coinage and paper dollars.  I actually use more cash than many folks as I tend to pay for groceries and small personal/household items in cash.  At Hy Vee, it appears to me that a majority of the folks in front of me in line use a credit or debit card for their purchases.  That is also definitely the case at the gas station as well (where most people pay at the pump with a card).

Coffee shops heavily market their own credit cards or the use of "app's" on the cell phone display that can act like a credit card.  It seems obvious to me that it's just a matter of time before the technology and security for the use of an app on the cell phone will be a primary form of payment for goods and services at virtually all retail establishments.  Just like the credit card readers progressed from the old imprint device to the modern data-scanner, merchants will eventually migrate to an even more efficient reader system.

One of the by-products of the shrinking use of currency is the impact on people who have historically depended on cash receipts/donations.  I always wonder if the tip jar at the coffee shop will go away with the expansion of electronic payments.  And the homeless people in the cities who pepper the street corners.  The Salvation Army. 

Today was a weekend day two years ago and 2 and I were visiting 4 in Lincoln.

I have no more than a minor amount of interest in the discussions that have been in the news this week about the future of the college football championship package.  From what little I have read, the proposal now on the table is one with a four-team play-off, keeping the bowl structure somewhat in place, but taking the "top" teams to the the playoff scenario.  I'm guessing that it will take about one year to have the first controversy between that fourth and fifth team.

Let's face it.  Its all about the money. 

In a somewhat similar vein, the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Association has elected to add a fifth class to the divisions for playoff purposes.  Effectively, the State Tournament in girls' sports will now have a total of 40 teams getting "to state".  The local fishwrap had a long story in the Sunday edition about this expansion.  Some people were quoted as being concerned with the "watering down" of state-level accomplishments, and others agreed with the change as benefiting more kids.  I don't know.  While there is truth to the watering-down argument, when stories are told 30 and 40 years later about a team making it to state, I doubt that the first thought to the listener of that story will be, "Yeah, but really, how many teams were in the field?"

What the expansion does mean is that there will be at least eight more state tournament games for gate revenue, concessions, parking and miscellaneous other fees.  A case could be made here too that, its all about the money.

All for now.

BCOT

Sunday

Here is my second effort at a post with the iPad. It still doesn't "feel" quite right. I'm thinking that I need a tutorial for this Blogger iPad app.

The ride up to DeWitt this morning was a solo affair. My pal Pete is traveling this weekend so I had no drafting help. But there wasn't much wind, and I dodged most of the showers that came through the area. (Breakfast was below par: if it had been dinner at a nice restaurant, the meal would have gone back to the kitchen. But it's DeWitt...a small town cafe. Whatever.)

I'm thinking that Aunt Martha's birthday and wedding anniversary are both in this latter part of June. Best wishes to her and Uncle Doyle. Sorry my internal data-storage is no more exact than this.

For the critics out there, NASCAR is on a road course in California today where they do more than turn right. Actually, I find the road course tracks less appealing than the short tracks where the bump-n-run is a little more predictable. The #24 needs to step it up.

The headline in the local paper yesterday was about that funky bridge on the Mississippi at Sabula that I wrote about two weeks ago on the TOMRV weekend. They've reserved the money and will be replacing it in the next few years. Good choice. The question is, "Will they get a new one done in the time frame that will have me still on a bike?" I have low expectations for that type of project.

I struggled with the re-assembly of the electronics in my living room after the windows were installed. First, I couldn't figure out why the large monitor wouldn't fire up while the lap-top monitor to which it is married was doing just fine. Turns out that the laptop was running on battery power as the switch was "off" on the surge protector strip. Then it took several iterations to figure out the proper plug for the table lamp to be connected to the room's light switches. Sometimer's at work.

My latest "lost glasses" story: my tertiary (or maybe even fourth level) back-up sun glasses went missing when I was looking for them to do yard work a few days ago. These are glasses that I use for local biking and around my yard. They generally never get into a car and are always kept on the kitchen counter. I gave up and went with the Oakley's. I found the missing pair a couple days later when I was doing laundry, in the back pocket of a biking shirt...luckily, BEFORE putting the shirt into the washer!!

All for now. Make it a good Sunday. (And TGIF to 4 in NYC!)

BCOT





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Maplecrest

Friday...UPDATED

So the new windows are pretty much installed.  I think that my pal Ron has just a little touch-up work to do this AM.  From both the inside and the outside, they look like they have always been in place.  My next step is to decide on shades of some sort as that afternoon sun might be a little bright if it is not filtered.  Small problems.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.

With the passage of the 21st, we are officially into Summer.  The downside from a biker''s perspective?  That early sun now starts to go the other way time-wise.  Between now and our departure for Tahoe it shouldn't be much of a problem, but certainly by August when we return, take-off for the early ride will have to creep closer to 0600.  Bummer.  (Is that a half-empty-glass comment or what?!?!)

Really glad Lebron has his trophy.

The market took a good shot to the solar plexus yesterday.  Companies are making good money.  Many have lots of cash.  But the economy is walking through wet concrete.  Europe is in disarray.  Politics are politics.  Still thinking that "sell in May and go away" is the advice to follow this year.  The question is, do you go back in before the election?  Regardless of who wins, I think I'd bet today on a Santa Claus rally for November-December under the presumption that there will be some pent-up demand. 

Fitness Club is a success on Maplecrest.  Hearing of it, The Big Apple couldn't resist copying the concept this week.  Yoga-palooza in Times Square.  2 has flexibility that sometimes hurts to watch.  I, on the other hand, do my best exercise with the post-workout wine selection/pouring.

Hope the Peanut Gallery has a great TGIF.

UPDATE...

Ron did get the finishing touches done on the windows; screens, locks and cranks.  Really another small, but noteworthy improvement to my place.  When you don't have that much square-footage, the little things get noticed.  I'll probably pick-up a couple of spring-loaded rods this weekend to hang some blinds that will deflect the evening sun light.

I did a lunch-hour ride on a route proximate to the normal early ride, mostly to get credit for a workout today.  Poor timing on my part as traffic North of town was quite a bit heavier than what I expected.  In one stretch, I had three eighteen wheelers pass by, along with the normal allotment of farm service vehicles, construction trucks, and various crew-cabs.  And they had laid down a new dusting of sand on the packed-tar-and-gravel-chip road, creating Saharan conditions.  The dogs on the bike path would have been a better battlefield.

I noticed in my earlier posting that the spell-check function had substituted 'Booker's' for "biker's" in my second paragraph.  When Blogger does spell-check, it gives some options, including "ignore".  I must have hit one of the alternatives with my cursor when I meant to go for the "ignore" option.  How do they come up with  "booker's" in lieu of "biker's"?

@srh4 is playing the Grandma card on Harvest Path this weekend.  At the rate that 1.02 is progressing, how long will it be before a leash is not optional?

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Thursday

So I am formally putting this up this morning to recognize 4 as Daughter of the Day.  She received the anticipated offer yesterday from FOX News for full-time employment, converting her position from the temporary/contract employee as was her status up to this point.  This is a big deal.  Congratulations to her for going to the big table and elbowing her way into the game.  You 'da girl, Kiddo!

(And yes, that is the Guggenheim in Bilbao in the background of this pic.)

More later.

NOW LATER...

I noticed at 2nd coffee that Leroy Neiman passed away yesterday.  He was a popular artist who did a lot of sports and entertainment painting.  We have a couple of his sketches in our waiting room that were wedding gifts from my college buddy Joe in 1976.  Here are a couple of pics from the Internet of his work:  Nolan Ryan in his days with the Astros, and Churchill Downs.

The sketches from Joe were from an idea that he had from several years earlier when he lived in San Fran (working with Tahoe Phil at B of A) and I had stayed over for a few days on my way over to my Korea assignment with the USAF.  We had spent an afternoon in Sasalito and I had hovered over a Neiman baseball painting in one of the art shops.  I didn't have any money then of course, but I had been on the verge of dropping a couple of C-notes on that piece.  Joe never forgot.  I still enjoy them.

Even more, later.

BCOT

Wednesday

I taking a few minutes at the office to throw up some chat before heading down to Muskie for a late afternoon golf date with my pals Ron and Cal.  Wednesday afternoons in the Summer are not supposed to be spent in the office!

For those of you not on Twitter, here's the pic taken this AM of my pal Ron completing installation of the new windows in the West side of my house.  (I'll add a second pic later once he has the windows in and the siding back up.)  This was a little project that I had decided upon a year ago, and had purchased the Andersen windows at that time. But my hired man got caught up with RAGBRAI prep, then the ride itself, and then the school year.  He must need some spending money this year!  My goal is to get more light and cross-ventilation in my living room.

Another sign of my limitations:  the dress-shorts that I bought on my last 30%-off coupon at Kohl's were supposed to be Navy blue.  They looked that color in the store.  Wearing them today for the first time...and they're black.  (Not being racist, here.)Worse still, the only back pocket is on the right side...and I always carry my wallet and cash envelope in my left rear pocket.  Really a disconcerting dress day for LtPC.

My wedding suit (and the two others with the deal at Jos A. Bank) were measured for fitting yesterday.  There's a two-week estimate on completion.  The tailor was/is a nice Asian gal from Thailand, who was very apologetic for me having to make a second trip for the fitting.  My aggravation was soften by her demeanor.  Over/Under on them getting the waist correct?  Call me a skeptic, but I'm all over the Under.

Another disturbing thought:  red wine on the driveway (or on the deck after Fitness Club) just doesn't have the same appeal when its 90, humid and windy...as say a good cold beer or a rum/lemonade smoothie.  That really must mean that the weather is getting to me, eh?

More later from the road. 

BCOT

Monday

Wow!  It's a hot one out there.  92 or so on Maplecrest.

My unscheduled trip over to Des Moines today was for another funeral on my client list.  This was Dr. D's sister who had been fighting cancer for several years.  She was 75.  I have now attended the funerals of each parent and the daughter.  Dr. Doug is the sole survivor at this point, not counting kids and grandkids.  A bit of sobering history.

That early ride today was awful!!  I had no energy and really struggled up the hills.  I even let @bcbison take the exteme hill on his own and chose the flatter alternative route over to the junior high while he did the real work.  Funny how some days the tank is empty.

I'm giving 2 the designation as Daughter of the Day for dutifully carrying the water on Father's Day.  We enjoyed a nice cup of 2nd coffee after I got back from the DeWitt ride...and she and The Winniferous were my guests for din-din...NY steaks from the grill with salad-in-a-pot.  (3 makes an appearance too since this was my best option for a recent shot.  This one was taken last weekend after the BBQ lunch on Century Heights.  The bright orange tee was the shirt from TOMRV.)

(I do have some pics of 2 taken on the iPad at coffee, but I don't have the talent yet to either send them to my Yahoo account (since the iPad thinks IT is my Yahoo account), or use The Cloud.  This one was taken on my iPhone.  Not that good because of light in the background...and an unsteady hand of our recruited photog.)

Not that we need another countdown, but it is only 40 days until #07282012.

I see on the news tonight that the jury gave Roger Clemons a not-guilty verdict.  Hmmm.  I'm not sure what that means other than that the Justice Department keeps picking battles that it can't seem to win.  I've never been much of a fan of The Rocket, but I was pulling for him in this one.  It sounds like the DOJ case rested heavily on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a recognized liar.  What did all this cost the taxpayers?  Of course, don't expect the Hall of Fame to send him any greeting cards.   In the opinions of those voters, Clemons is guilty on all counts.

NBC's decision to make the PGA's U.S. Open broadcast last weekend a prime time affair left me a bit disinterested.  The final groups didn't finish until after 9PM Central time.  Sorry guys, but that's just too late to keep my attention to golf.  You know that they could have started the round at noon on the Left Coast and captured most of the regular viewers in the East and Midwest.  I wonder how the numbers ultimately flushed-out.

And a hat-tip to the #88 for the win in Michigan.  Again, not a big fan, but he's good for the sport, and he drives for The Good Guys.  The four Hendrick cars keep in the mix almost every week.  Unfortunately, there are really only about half the cars that start a race that actually have a chance to win.

Finally, Roy and I both commented that several of the golfers in the last groups had as many sponsor logos on their hats, shirts and bags as the NASCAR boys do on their cars.  Almost anything for a buck, eh?

Thanks for reading.  Have a good week.

BCOT

Sunday

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. It's a warm one here.

The DeWitt ride with my pal Pete this AM was a great start to the day. There was just a little wind out of the West that kept some of the segments interesting, but nothing to bad. Pete's draft is always a good place to be. Thanks, friend!

The Sunday crowd at Dunn's includes a number of families with young children. The parents seem to believe that loud kids are acceptable in this environment. I had to move to a further-away location. Is there something wrong with parents suggesting to their kids that they should use indoor voices?

More later from Maplecrest.

BCOT


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Okay. I just tried to add to the blog from the iPad from the original link that I had set up, without going to the Blogpress app. I'm not sure if that's just normal Sometimer's or worse. So the flag that I had posted from earlier was deleted. And now I need to go meet @bcbison for a beer at Gov's. And I won' get the flag back up until later. I'm not that bright.

First pic to the blog from the iPad. Taken just a few minutes ago on the deck at Gov's. Life is pretty good for the LtPC.




BCOT
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday

Really not a lot to add to the world's information data-base today.  Looks like another near-perfect day weather-wise here.  Golf in Muskie late this afternoon is a possibility.

I've named our small group personal training program Fitness Club (FC for future reference).  Our second meeting last night confirmed that I have no core strength.  That means that I have a lot of upside potential.  Instructor Jessi is headed out of town for the weekend and our next class is not until next Tuesday.  But I intend to spend a little time each evening doing some of the exercises that I actually can do so that I'll be better prepared for next week.  It's a humbling experience.

My choice to do an after-work ride on the bike path before the Monday night FC reminded me of a previous decision to not ride the bike path on weekday evenings.  The combination of kids, dogs and other amateurs is just too much for a meaningful workout.  I had to come out of my clips three times within a period of about ten minutes on the latter part of the ride.  People just not paying any attention...and not too worried about inconveniencing others on the path.  You really need to lower your expectations for those kind of rides.

For an aging person who has had trouble with remembering names for many years, the Dunn Bros coffee shop has thrown more challenges into my morning coffee.  They've had one set of two girls ever since they opened who look very similar, and who will occasionally work together.  I have almost no shot of getting their names (which I kind of remember) properly aligned.  This week, two girls now home for the Summer have been on the morning shift, and they might as well be identical twins.  Who is who may never get straightened out.  And they like the confusion that they cause as I try to make the call!

Does anyone actually care that the NBA Finals are being played these days?

Now the College World Series (CWS) is a matter of interest and the games start on Friday in Omaha.  In addition to the usual suspects, outsiders Kent State and Stony Brook (Stony Brook?) have made it to The Big Show (for college baseball).  The fact that Stony Brook won their way to Omaha by way of knocking off Miami and LSU on their home fields suggests that they belong.  I'd like to see them win a couple of games.

Who plays the part of Erin Andrews these days?

Make it a good day.

BCOT

Tuesday

Okay so I have now acquired an app to facilitate the blog as entered from my iPad. The app cost $4.99 so it had better work!

I'm going to publish just these couple of sentences to see the preliminary results.

Well, it seems to work...with Learning Curve still on the steep side. I don't see a spell-check function available. I think that it just gives a red underline on a word that doesn't compute. Just like the iPhone texting protocol. Hmmm. That makes sense.

The comments on this app suggest that pictures can be added within in this format, but I have no pictures on this device yet.

Round 2 of the Fitness Club is this evening. The first night was pretty much what I expected. I am a weak link.

I stopped over at the Bettendorf City offices today to get my building permit to authenticate my pal Ron's work to install those windows in my living room. About a year late. The gal who helped me with my application used to work for the accounting firm that hired me when I came to town in 1980. She recognized me right off. Me her, not so much.

So I'll add here from home after the training session tonight. And after the wine after the training session.

BCOT

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday...UPDATED

So this is my first effort at blogging from the iPad. I need to figure out how to change the font. And it isn't giving me paragraph-breaks. Coming to you from Dunn Bros coffee shop. In full recovery from TOMRV. It looks like I have a slightly different input-screen for Blogger on this device than I do on the laptop or desktop. I don't have the new spell-check function. I wonder if there's an App to download that will present the other screen. Hmmm. All this technology. Such little time. I also need to figure out this "Cloud" thing.

Saturday was a near-perfect day. Generally favorable winds. Warm but not really overly hot. Good friends and a nice, challenging ride. 85 miles is plenty for me. By the time we arrived in Galena, most of the riders had made their way past me as few folks passed me going up the last few hills. I don't think that the total number of riders was as high as in prior years. At those last couple of sag stops, there was lots of snacks and fruit still to be had. I'm sure that the left-overs would be out for the riders on their return trip home.

We did run into the guy from three years ago with the Jagermeister shots. He has since sold his business and is in full-retirement. 2 and I will need to schedule a meeting with him this month to catch up.

We have a modified fff scheduled with 3, Herky and the McB's at lunch over at @srh4's. Details and pic's to follow here after their departure.

So I think that this iPad with keyboard may likely be my preferred entry mechanism in the future. This keyboard is so much more user-friendly than the built-in keyboard in the laptop. And the portability of the iPad is a no-brainer. We'll see.

More later. Make is a great Sunday.

NOW LATER...

I did some editing of the initial entry to create some spacing.  Still don't know the deal with the iPad protocol.

Here's a couple of pic's from yesterday and today.  That's my pal Ron and me after we got home last night.  Neither the worse for the wear.

2 and 3 taken just a while ago as 3 and Herky were preparing to leave for their return to NYC.  Then I have this random shot of the rental car being packed.  Who are those guys?

These other pic's from yesterday were taken on the Sabula, Iowa bridge.  This is where TOMRV crosses over from Iowa into Illinois.  The floor of the bridge is the metal grating that can be treacherous when it has any moisture.  The cue-sheets for the ride instruct riders to walk across the bridge, but most folks ignore that advice.  I elected to take the safe route and walked across the Mississsppi.

The new Home Page shot is of Ol' Muddy, looking South from the middle of the Sabula bridge.

The local Race for the Cure was held yesterday in Moline and it did not feel much impact from the dust-up that the Komen Foundation encountered last Winter with Planned Parenthood.  The number of participants (8,100 or so) was about the same as last year, and the amount of money raised was actually over $50K higher.

So that's pretty much it for today.  Hope that the Peanut Gallery has a good week.

BCOT

Thursday

Another Top Ten day in the neighborhood.  They do say that the heat will come in for the weekend, but these last couple of days with highs in the mid-upper 70's have been top drawer stuff.  We could use a little rain.

The spin instructor didn't say "No".  Yet.  I did an initial inquiry by email, and her email response was more favorable than not.  Additional discussion face-to-face to follow.  My pal Cal is interested as well.  This could be a hoot.  Core training and wine on Maplecrest!

I did order the iPad yesterday.  It's the new one with 4G technology.  Its scheduled for delivery tomorrow.  Including the separate keyboard/folio cover.  2 will need to be giving me lessons on usage.

I came across some dirt in the DM Register yesterday that is almost too hard to believe.  The gal who had been the head of the Des Moines public schools the last several years (and who had accepted a similar position in Omaha beginning in July) found herself in the soup when "sexually explicit" emails were discovered on her school email account.  I'll leave it to you to research the details (query "Des Moines schools" on Google News), but the incredible part of the story is that she used her school email account for the correspondence.

The financial cost of this brain-dead loss of clarity exceeds two million or more.  She was making $250,000 annually in DM, and was scheduled to get $300,000+ in Omaha (including benefits).  Do the math.  A $629 iPad with a $25 monthly fee doesn't even register on that scale.  And she'll be lucky to get a job of any sort in education administration in the future.  Those FOIA searches are a beach.

That new Ping G20 driver that I wrote about a week or so ago could be the real deal.  I played 9 holes with Roy last night at Geneva, and my drives on the three hardest holes were long, in the fairway, and lead to much easier second shots.  Two pars and a bogey.  Technology is currently suggesting that my target of a 12 handicap by the end of the season is a definite possibility.  Not that I have a problem with oxymoron's.

An article in a recent SI that had a round table discussion about the status of golf in the USA made an interesting point.  Most people focus on the total score for the round.  And keeping score like that leads to more time on the course.  In contrast, many Saturday morning "games" among friends at a club are done on a match-play basis between two-man teams.  In match play, total score really has no meaning as each hole is either won or lost.  So in many cases, when a guy on one team hits a great shot that leads to an easy birdie, the other players may not even finish the hole if they obviously can't beat that birdie.  Similarly, a guy who puts one out-of-bounds, or a couple in the water, may just "pick-up" and concede that he can't help his teammate on the hole.  He's being "carried" by his partner.

Match play can take less time...usually.  And one bad hole won't take a golfer out of the picture for the match, as the next hole is really a "do-over", and everybody has a clean scorecard.  Golf is supposed to be about fun, and keeping score can be a possible inhibitor to the fun factor.  Just a thought.

Another choice that average players make that can make for too-long of rounds is the choice of tees that they tee from.  Most course offer a variety of distances with tees going back to "the tips", or up to the "super seniors".  (We usually play something in the 6300 yard range.)  When Average Joe's feel their testosterone and go back too far on the tees, they make the course too long for their games.  Balls get lost.  More strokes are required.  And the round goes on too long, time wise.  Not to mention that they probably hold up the entire course for other golfers.  Just another thought.

Now off to the yard and house duties.  I may try to jump back on later.

BCOT

Tuesday

I elected to use a pic I shot last Friday on the golf course at Geneva as my Home Page photo-op to reflect the green, green grass of home.  The deep blue of the sky was placed in crisp contrast with those billowy white clouds.  Taken with my back-up, back-up mini-digi Canon.

And on the same sequence on the memory card was this recent shot of My Favorite Tree over by West Branch.  Shot from the Buick while doing about 80 MPH headed East.  I'm still seeking the perfect pic of that tree.  This one was taken one-handed while I was passing a semi, and has been significantly cropped to get the focus on the tree.

And the other interesting pic is this one of flowers just off of my door on Maplecrest.  There's a little lady-bug in the upper right portion of the flower.  That little Canon is a handy piece of equipment.

I did vote today.  There was only one race contested on either ticket.  (Remember that, at least in Iowa, you can only vote for the candidates of one party in these primary elections.)  I have no strong opinions about the two Republicans looking to run for our Congressional seat, and I was tempted to re-register as a Democrat to vote against the Democratic incumbent (Dave Loebsack), but I just couldn't pull the trigger. 

It will be hard to defeat Loebsack given the left-ward tilt of the district that now encompasses Iowa City, Ottumwa and the Quad Cities.  He's college professor by vocation (Cornell in Mt. Vernon, Iowa)and has benefited from the liberal muscle of Iowa City politics.  He votes with the Party on virtually all significant issues, and has the White House talking points memorized.

Iowa lost a Congressional seat in the 2010 census and our districts have been reconfigured.  Under the new map, two Republican incumbents were looking at facing one another for a seat, but one moved a ways and will now face a Democratic incumbent instead.  And our former governor's wife, Kristi Vilsack, is running for a seat this year as well.  She will bring in a lot of the Democratic hierarchy from around the country to her campaign trail as they work to defeat a Republican incumbent who has obviously represented only the interests of the 1%.  I'm pretty sure that the basics of this race will be similar to the National debate.  It won't be pretty.

I've had an outbreak of army ants on my door steps at home.  My pal Pete had commented that he had seen masses of the ants a couple of places on his walks last weekend with The W, and I had had to fumigate a little in my basement after NYC.  I'm sure that it's just a seasonal thing.  But very irritating.

All for now.  More later.

BCOT

Sunday

I've had a busy last few days.  My goal is to make this week totally uneventful...at least until the TOMRV ride on Saturday up to Galena.  And I hope that that trip is just an 85 mile walk in the park.

Last night's wedding of 3's friend Meredith was held at a facility near Solon, Iowa.  They call it the Celebration Barn.  It can probably handle a party of 400-500 seated guests at tables.  There were 200+ there for this wedding.  I think that most guests were bussed in from Iowa City.  Without a detailed map, and Herky in the back seat, I would have had no chance of finding the place.

I'm making 3 Daughter of the Day for her effort to come back for the weekend.  I think that her wake-up call for the Friday morning flight was the equivalent of 0230 CST.  Those are the ones where you seriously consider whether going to bed is a viable option.  Here's a pic of her and Herky after the ceremony. 

The ride up to DeWitt this morning with my pal Pete was an excellent adventure.  He didn't push it too hard, and the wind wasn't unfavorable.  45+ miles.  Four hours (more or less), including about 40 minutes over coffee, the paper and a Sunrise Sunday Special.  Love breakfast at The Sunrise Cafe.  Saturday's ride to Galena will be just a shade less than twice the round-trip to DeWitt.  I hope the weather is as good as today's.

The Winniferous and I have been doing fine.  However, just like that three-day-weekend in Vegas, it's always good to get back to normal.  That means that 2 needs to have her plane make it home on time Tuesday evening!

Here's my latest scheme:  I'm going to try to hire my spin instructor to be my personal trainer for the next six weeks!  Right up to the wedding.  Maybe three supervised sessions a week.  Golf on Friday and Saturday confirmed that my back was in no shape to play 18 holes.  If I want to reach my goal of lowering my handicap to a 12 by the end of golf season, I need my back to be much more cooperative.  On the ride this AM, the personal trainer idea came up in conversation with Pete.  The spin instructor really isn't a trainer, but she's a track coach, and most of what I need is stretching.  She's qualified for that.  If she'll agree to work with Pete and I, I may extend the offer to 2 to join us.

I elected not to participate in the PrideFest this weekend on the riverfront.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Look for more unrest in the markets this week.  Sell in May and go away...probably good advice this year.  Uncertainty in Spain will lead the stories tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Thursday

These short weeks always get away from me.  Not to mention that May is history.

Facebook shares are down to $27 and change this AM.  For the folks who bought that first day a couple of weeks ago at the inter-day price of $45, you're talking about a 40% decline in value.  Ouch!  Talk about hype and buying on speculation.  It will take some time, but I do think that some heads will roll on this one.

One of the side-bar stories from the sports pages this week has been the commentary on the two-stroke penalty situation that Iowan Zach Johnson incurred on the 18th hole Sunday in the PGA tournament in Texas.  He failed to return his ball-marking coin to the original spot before he putted-out, after having just previously moved his coin out of the path of his fellow competitor (as is a common practice in putting). 

The fortunate thing is that a tournament official asked him about the coin move before Zach got to the scoring room to sign his card.  While not moving it back was a two-stroke penalty, signing an incorrect scorecard is disqualification.  Disqualification would have meant a forfeiture of the $1.1 million winner's prize money.  That would have left a mark!  The fact that he had a three-stroke lead going into the 18th hole made the two-stroke penalty a moot point as he was able to par the hole with an up-and-down out of the green-side bunker.

Anyway, my observation was/is on a sportsman's position vis-a-vis a fellow competitor who has overlooked moving a coin.  I know that when I'm on a green and have putted-out, I'll usually say something to the other player as I move away from the action, to not forget to replace his marker.  In big time competition, a true sportsman would not want to win on a rules violation of this nature.  It has happened though...can you say Roberto DiVencenzo?

This is the Member-Guest golf tournament week down at Geneva.  I have my friend Rick as my partner.  He and I play about the same brand of bogey+ golf.  Our goal is to finish second in our flight so that we don't have to participate in a play-off for the flight winners.  Normally, we would play nine holes this evening  and grab a few adult beverages at the opening party.  But we have rain now and forecasted for the rest of the day, so I think that we'll just keep our powder dry until the official matches start in the AM.

I take on the IRS again today on a new case.  As I look at my work these days, me and the IR of S are just seeing way too much of one another.  There was a time when I actually took some professional pride in dealing with the Service.  Today, given my evaluation of the Service's "our rules are the rules" approach, I find these events to be almost always adversarial.  Where there is a difference of opinion on a specific issue, the field auditors almost never relent from their initial position.  They are so concerned about the security of their own jobs that they toe the line and take no risks away from the SOP.  As an advisor, you need to do your work and documentation on the preparation end, in anticipation of a future audit.  There's little wiggle-room once an audit has been initiated.

I'm not sure if 1.02 was officially given status as Grandson of the Day last week.  So here it is, Kiddo.  You are a star!!  (Pic to follow.)

I'm off to see the IRS.  I'll try to jump back on here later today.

BCOT

Monday

Sorry I didn't get on here earlier today, but my day just kept getting in the way.  I see where 1 states on Twitter that she has put the pics up for sharing.  I just took four of the best to convey the sense of the event.

Thanks to 1 and 1.1 for the hospitality over the weekend.  The new grill on Harvest Path worked a little overtime.  The chef has some skills.

Golf today was a test of endurance.  My back gave out after about 12 holes.  The number of non-Maplecrest beds over the last month did little for my score.  I need to spend a little time on the practice green this week if I hope to not embarras myself in the Member-Guest event this weekend.  (The Pro did get my new driver in for my use today.  Good reviews so far.)


Today was the QC Criterium bike race in Rock Island.  I didn't get over to watch.  I think that the event has found it difficult to attract much new attention with as much stuff that is going on for the holiday weekend. 

And the golf match kept me from getting over to the service on Arsenal Island.  I felt a little bad for not making it, but the program for Veterans Day is about the same, and the traffic is much easier to navigate.  Maybe next year.

One other thing that I did get done today was to order my wedding suit from Jos. A. Bank.  It was their 3 for 1 sale (that they have every few weeks).  They ordered my suits from their warehouse, and they should be in next week for fitting.  The waist and the leg length will need fine-tuning.

Hope everyone has a good week.

BCOT

Friday

Happy Birthday to 1!  You are Daughter of the Day.

Lots of people seem to have taken a bit of a head start on the holiday weekend.  On our ride this AM, my pal Pete and I definitely noticed a difference in traffic compared to the other mornings this week.  And the body-count here in the office is also several folks short of a regular day.  Not a bad thing.  We'll close early as well (after the market closes this afternoon).

I wanted to get this greeting up early to recognize 1.  I'll try to jump back on here later today.

NOW LATER...

Very low key day.  I'm headed out soon.  The phones have been very quiet.  The email has been confined to sales people trying to make their weekly contact quotas.  (There's really a trend on Friday's of those calls, from off-the-wall company's whose internal cold-callers must have specific target numbers...and they get down to the dregs (like me) late in the week.)

I'm sad to report that I had to turn my A/C on at my house last night.  It was cool enough outside, and there was a breeze, but none of it got to my back bedroom.  I woke up before midnight with my tee shirt soaked.  So I made the command decision to crank up the air, and it made for a comfortable sleep.  Then on the ride this morning, it was cool enough that I could have worn my wind shell and it wouldn't have been too hot.  I hate giving MidAmerican revenue on these kind of days.

The Big O was in Iowa yesterday...again.  I wonder why?  Of course, he couldn't pass on the opportunity to practice his regional lexicon and accused his presumptive opponent of spreading a "cow-pie of distortion."  He also found time to visit the wind energy business, seeking a further extension of the tax credits that provide the only economics for the industry.  Oh, the coolness of hopenchange.  I'm pretty sure that he'd head to Western PA and grasp some guns and religion if it meant a couple of votes.  Yuck.

Sorry.  I found his cow-pie comment intuitively pedestrian.

The plan is for 2 and I to be on the road at 0900 tomorrow.  ETA Harvest Path is 1445.

Hope the Peanut Gallery has a good weekend.

BCOT

Thursday

Happy Tax Birthday to 1! 

I'm thinking that this may be a shot at her last TC marathon after the birth of 1.01.  And, of course, she's now in training for this year's TC event to prove that she still has it after bringing 1.02 into the family.  Hope you have had a good day, Kiddo.

A follow-up to the previous story on my new golf club, the Ping G20 driver.  A lesson in the disconnect of what you think that you say with what the other person hears.  The pro down at Geneva failed to interpret my instruction to "ring it up" and re-grip the club that I had demo'd as a purchase order.  When I came back from DM yesterday, I elected to stop off in Muskie and play a few holes with my pal Cal.  I even called the golf shop from Des Moines to let them know that I was stopping by and would be picking up my new club.

When I went through the golf shop, the assistant manning the desk handed me over a Ping G20 driver, re-gripped to my specs.  The only problem was that IT WAS THE WRONG CLUB!! I had specifically requested a driver with a 12 degree loft, and this one was 10 degrees.  Even club pro's should be able to tell the difference between a 10 degree and a 12 degree club, especially since the numbers are clearly displayed on the back of the club head.

Of course, there was no 12 degree club in inventory.  So when I talked to the pro today, after he hem and hawed his way around our previous conversation, the desired club was put on "special " order from the distributor.  Whatever.

4 had her first regular shift at her FOX News job last night.  She works Wednesday's through Sunday's, going in at 8 PM and getting done at 0600.  Her first report on Twitter today suggested that at the network, you don't monitor the police scanner like you do for local news.  Heck, in NYC, those police scanners must be buzzing constantly.  I can't imagine how they can respond to all the stuff that must go on in the metropolitan area.

The dominant story in the financial press this week has been the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Facebook.  FB hit the street last week at $38.  In the first day of trading, it went as high as $45 (briefly), and then began to sell off.  Lead underwriter, JP Morgan stepped in and "stabilized the price that first day at $38, but then let the stock fall on Friday when the market seemed to turn against the issue.  The stock fell further through yesterday, but recovered today and closed at $33+.

Among the questions that will keep lawyers busy for years are: Why $38 to open?  Who had inside information on concerns about the price? Did FB itself contribute to the obfuscation? 

This really does raise memories of the dot-com bubble when the price of a security was secondary to possession of the security (read: CISCO).  I know that everybody wants to hit a home run, but that whole FB model leaves me wanting more for the financial growth of a company, not just the usage (See also: Twitter).

(Another factoid of almost no relevance:  IPO is a frequent NYT crossword solution to the clue: Wall Street issue.)

All for tonight.  My laptop is headed to the TC for remote use by @srh4 tomorrow, so I have had to make this entry from the office.  It is now time for a glass of vino.  Make it a good Friday.

SMALL ADDITION:  I tried to leave a few minutes ago, just as the power decided to go out in the building.  That set off a series of security alarms.  I called the security company with very mixed results.  The first kid didn't know how to re-set the system, and took my number with the advice that a tech-rep would call back.  Right.  In the meantime, the power came back on, and the sequence of arming/disarming of the system had left it armed, so when I stepped into the path of a sensor, the whole siren/speakers and collective racket went off.   I stepped outside awaiting the call back.

After 15 minutes of no action, I called the security company again.  This time, the gal didn't like my code number and wanted to pass me off to a supervisor.  I again gave my cell number and figured I'd be in for another wait. 

In the meantime, a tech-rep did call and we kinda stumbled our way through the dis-arm function and everything is back to normal.  I think the problem may be that this system is 20+ years old and the alert desk people have not been trained on it.  Heck, they probably were in diapers when this thing went in.  Even the tech-rep was guessing.  The security system is like a lot of things in my life, where old is the dominant characteristic.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

Life is receding to normal for me.  I mean, that Tour de Big Apple was fun, but home is also a good place to be.

Sleep last night was a dream.  My own bed.  Clean sheets.  (The RCL had done her thing in my absence!)  And a cool breeze.  Uncharacteristically, my phone alarm was needed to get me going for the early morning ride.

I have a lot of training to do over the next 67 days to be ready for the hills of Tahoe.  Then again, LBH, I will never be ready for the hills of Tahoe.  I'm struggling on the hills of Pleasant Valley.

My pal Roy is private-jetting off to Florida in the AM with the president of a successful local company to have three days of short-game instruction with a noted golf instructor (whose name I can't remember).  The other guy's jet.  Bonus.  Roy's getting over a medical procedure to clean the plaque out of his right cardioid artery.  Yuck.  But the vascular surgeon says it will put years on Roy's timeline.  Good news.

This is a shot that I took from the plane on final approach yesterday into MLI.  A slight difference of the new Home Page photo taken earlier in the day as we peeled out of LGA, eh?

And I want to formally recognized 3, 4 and Herky for being such good hosts this weekend.  4 spent a lot of time riding and getting on and off the trains in/to mid-town to lead the LtPC to various other meeting spots with the others.  And I continue to enjoy the long weekend visits to the Concrete Jungle where we just hang and plan on the fly.  The best plan is the Almost No Plan.  Thanks to each of you.


I would be remiss not to also recognize 2 for her delivery and pick-up at MLI...Including a second trip on Sunday when I had the funky delay leaving ORD while she was waiting at the curb in Moline.  Thanks, Kiddo.

I did some Google-searching over the weekend to see if there was any remedy for the touchy keyboard on my laptop.  Maybe not-too-surprisingly, there were lots of hits.  Unfortunately, the steps recommended didn't come as options on my operating system.  Still looking for Plan B.  Using the plug-in keyboard is a much better experience.

One of the casualties of my travel schedule has been my golf game.  I had vowed that I was going to get my handicap down to a 12 this year (it's currently an 18), but I've managed to play a total of twice so far this year (after Arizona).  Pretty hard to work on your game while not playing, right Kemo Sabe?  Ah, not so fast, Faithful Companion on the pinto horse.

There is an old golf saying that, "It ain't the arrow.  It's the Indian."  But golfers universally look for an edge with new arrows for their quiver...and I have fallen prey to the Sirens.  That day that I played with Roy a couple of weeks ago, I tested a Ping G20 driver with a 12 degree loft.  It worked pretty well, getting me off the tee box on two of the hardest holes at Geneva better than I normally do by, literally, a long shot.  So after several days of consideration, I called the Pro and told him that I wanted to improve the profitability of the Club's Golf Shop, and told him to "ring it up" for me.  That sucker better be worth 3 shots off the handy, or I made a bad choice.

All for tonight.  Another early ride is on the docket for the AM.

Hey to 3 in STL.

BCOT