Tuesday...Return from Phoenix

I gotta say, two nights in Phoenix isn't long enough for the hassle of the travel. In this case, I was able to have successful meetings with my clients yesterday, but my original goal to have a little me-time on the extra day just didn't happen. Thank you, United Airlines.

Phoenix/Scottsdale has more road construction going on now throughout the area than we may even have back in the Midwest. I was never substantially inconvenienced by the detours, but I was never trying to fight the clock on any of my destinations...and I wasn't driving much in rush hour. They really don't have any public transportation in the Valley beyond busses, so you have no options once the construction hits your routes.

That Dodge Charger that I had from Alamo Rental Car was a nice ride. Plenty of room. And it handled the road well. I'd rent it again. And the Alamo experience rivaled Hertz for customer service. At a significantly reduced price.

I found a new coffee shop near the Country Inn and Suites where I usually stay on these non-golf trips to Arizona. It's a local brand of some sort, but it has a similar menu to a Starbucks. I actually stumbled on to it when I was looking for a Starbucks for 1st Coffee on Monday morning. Well designed indoor and outdoor seating. Off the busy street. Appealing enough that I returned there for 1st Coffee today. I could become a "regular".

And I did make a token visit to the western-wear store where I bought my George Strait hat a couple years ago. If I had had that extra day on my visit, I might have looked a little harder at a couple of western dress shirts that coulda fit in my wardrobe, but I needed more time to decide if I actually "needed" the shirts...so they stayed on the rack. Maybe next time.

You will note that I have not commented on politics here recently. My interest is at an all-time low. I'm not sure if the GOP is just incompetent as a party, but they certainly struggle to convey a message that resonates favorably (even within their own party). Of course, the MSM does them no favors, giddily highlighting every item that can be reported in an unfavorable light...by standards that the admittedly Left-leaning MSM have elected to set. Whatever.

The only reasons that I note politics in this entry are: 1) When I go on the road, I often pick up the NYT, perusing all of the sections. And I am always amazed how the Progressive meme is presented in EVERY section, from news to the theater, from society to business, from sports to the obits. Talk about an echo chamber.

And 2), I learned through the SquawkBox show today that NBC's John Harwood, a regular contributor to CNBC...and a blowhard whom I ALWAYS mute...is to be one of the moderators of the GOP debate...to be broadcast tomorrow on CNBC from Boulder. OK, let me first say that I certainly won't be watching the debate. Why the GOP is holding it in Boulder is curious in itself...I mean the U of Colorado wouldn't let any of that group speak to a campus gathering of any university-sponsored event. Whatever...the Big Tent and all. But allowing Harwood to participate is giving audience to a complete tool (or fool...take your pick) of the Left. Why not bring back Gwen Iffel instead? Yuck and double-yuck.

Moving on...

There have been some interesting stories in the media recently about tipping at restaurants following the decision of a highly regarded NYC eatery going to a no-tipping policy. This topic came up regularly on our recent trip to Spain and France where 2 routinely reminded me that tipping in Europe was no where near as widespread as it is here in the USA. There's a part of me that appreciates the well-intentioned goal of the no-tipping concept. But figuring out a way to get to fair-pay for all restaurant employees may be a conundrum more complex than even a Nobel Peace Prize winner could resolve. (The cynical part of me also senses another element of the cultural-police's "Europe does it better" movement...and that alone gives me the doubts.)

Finally, I was never a big fan of Flip Saunders...nor was I a critic. I just never paid much attention to his teams. His recent death came as a bit of a shock to me as his cancer diagnosis earlier this year was never portrayed in the press as of a fatal variety. And he was only 60 years old. It's another illustration of Rule #3...Don't look back. And I don't think he did. He kept in the game and kept looking ahead. That's not a bad epitaph.

Enough for today. Back to Maplecrest tonight. A busy 2 and a half days at the office and then a weekend trip up to see the goblins on Harvest Path. And then it's November!!!! The vapor year continues.

BCOT



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Sunday...Phoenix-Bound

So this little venture to the Valley of the Sun had a mis-fire yesterday when the flight out of MLI never took off. Even before it was officially cancelled, I had re-booked myself for this Sunday departure. Once the delay yesterday reached two hours, there was no way I would make my Chicago connection, and I didn't want to get to Phoenix in the middle of the night. So I just called the UAL customer service line, finally got connected...probably 15 minutes on hold...and got an agent to book flights for Sunday.

This experience is exactly why 2 and I elected to drive to O'Hare for the BarBor2015 trip. And why we have elected to have our pal Roy fire up the King Air to get us to O'Hare for the January boys golf trip.

(Actually, my travel for much of the last couple of years has not been all that bad. I did get laid-over in Dallas in February by that ice storm, and 2 and I got stuck in Dallas because of storms after the Sonoma trip a couple years back. So maybe the 75-80% rule applies. If you've had four or five outings go without incident, you're pushing your luck on that next trip.)

I've made a command-decision to take a hack saw to the little blade on the waiter's key that we got at Eric's wine shop in Bordeaux to make it my travel-opener going forward. Since we got back from Europe, I have looked several places for an opener without a blade and failed to find anything. It would make sense to use the Eric key for my "go bag" given its acquisition history.

Rick Petino, basketball coach at Louisville, has been in the news over the last couple of weeks with the story about one of his assistant coaches over-seeing a girls-for-the-recruits operation. I'm pretty sure that this stuff has gone on at every big-time (and every wanna-be big-time) school since recruiting became part of the equation. The difference now of course is the Internet, iPhones and the willingness of the various participants to shop the details to TMZ, Deadspin, or other purveyors of the underside of pop culture.

It is interesting that a head coach in these situations is perfectly comfortable with the "my head is in the sand" defense. And his AD provides the echo defense of his "highly-principled"...and successful...face of the program. And they get away with it. How can Roy Williams purport to not know what goes on in the classroom at Carolina with his players? And the players and their families? This is just part of the process?

Of course, with the amount of denial, convenient mis-remembering, and obfuscation that goes on with the politicians...of all parties...why would there be a higher standard for the citizens? Can you say, Lamar?

NOW MONDAY AM.....

So I didn't get this posted last night. Really an odd day for me.

Alamo did the right thing and accepted my original reservation pricing for my rental. That was certainly the right thing to do. When I had tried to adjust my rental on-line Saturday evening after my flight was cancelled, the system took my daily rate from $25 to $75 per day. Hello!! And the phone system wouldn't go to a customer service rep.

If I had the flexibility, I would stay another day to make the trip feel like I was doing something besides going through airports. Unfortunately, my schedule for the rest of the week makes that choice a no-go deal.

Hope it is a good week for all of my many readers!

BCOT









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Tuesday

I guess we see tonight if there is any life left in Wrigleyville.  If the Cubs can't win this one, they be toast.  Teams don't come back from 0-3 holes.

I'm not sure why it didn't hit me in recent days, but if you leave home much before 0700 these mornings, you're doing so in the dark.  Since Daylight Savings Time is still 10 days away, the mornings will continue to cast gloom on the commute.  Yuck.  Shorter and shorter hours of daylight.  That's the one thing that really depresses me about Fall and Winter, much more so than the cold.

My inside plants that I put on the rear deck in the Summer had some upper branches tinged with frost over the weekend.  I had made the effort to cover them with sheets on Friday evening...successfully, I think for that night...and then again Saturday afternoon before I took off for IC.  But when I got back to Maplecrest Sunday afternoon (having stopped for golf in Muskie on the way back from IC), there was definitely some frost damage from the prior evening.  I think the wind must have blown the sheets off the top-most branches.  Meh.  That just means those two ficus trees will fit inside another year.

Another little unexpected outcome of the IC trip was that I managed to find several miles of gravel road when I meandered my way to Muscatine on Sunday morning.  I had a very good general idea of using the back roads to get there, but I had no co-pilot and didn't bother to pull up Google Maps on my own.  After making good progress East for 10-15 miles, I chose a South-bound county road at what I judged to be about the half-way point...which worked okay for 2-3 miles...when the pavement then ended.  Shel Silverstein, you shoulda warned me.

It was only 5-6 miles of gravel before I hit the East-bound paved road that I knew was there, but the Buick was totally dusted-over and required a good washing once I got back home.  Our cars on the farm were always covered in dust.  And that dust gets into every crack and cranny.  Welcome to true country livin'.

SquawkBox had a segment the other morning about the watch-maker Tag Heuer essentially poor-mouthing the new Apple Watch as not really a competitor.  And I guess they really don't go at the same market...except that they both price themselves away from the folks who actually buy watches to get the time. 

I comment here as I did upgrade my own wrist watch after BarBor2015 since my primary one lost the catch-buckle-thingy on our trip, and the face on the back-up was scratched on that visit to the deck on my last ride in Bordeaux.  My new primary watch had a base cost of $10.99...a little less than those discussed in the SquawkBox segment...but $2 more than I had paid for the scratched back-up.  I mean, I ain't gettin' a Social Security increase in 2016.

Did I mention here that I am now up to three official LtPC Rules?

1. If you ride, you will fall.
2. Always have a back-up.
3. Don't look back.

I have a couple of other sayings that may make it to the list, but I'm in no hurry.

All for now.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Monday

Well, that first half of the month was all of the vapor trail that I thought it would be.  Really glad to be past the 15th.  It will take some time to sort through the rubble.

My personal physician got me a re-fill on the Z-Pack for my cold.  The first go-around killed about 85% of the thing, but I had plateaued there and I didn't want it to drag on any further.  We'll see.  I haven't felt anywhere near as bad as I did with that bout of pneumonia 2-3 years back, but bad enough that I'm not taking any chances this time.

Fun night in IC with 2.  We really hadn't chatted much since our return from our trip, and the evening gave us time to compare our after-the-fact takeaways from the journey.  2 has put together a real nice scrapbook, and I downloaded to her laptop the pics from my two cameras for use in a photo-book that we plan to design for our archives.  Since I didn't blog as

much this time out, I'll need to add a few paragraphs to describe some things as we went through our tour.  Not that text is what makes a photo book a photo book.

That is a bottle of vino in the pic that we brought back from Bordeaux.  Very meh.  I made sure that we drank a bottle that was just the first of two of the same bottles that we brought back with us...so 4 will be able to partake in the other one when she next comes this way.  But really, the Rodney Strong that we had with dinner was much better on the palate.

Speaking of the trip, I initiated today the insurance claim on the two bumper scrapes that Hertz saw fit to charge me over $1600 on when I turned in the car in Bordeaux.  After the go-around I had with AmEx on the rear window issue in Spain in 2011, I signed up for an automatic insurance program that kicks in whenever I rent a car on that card.  After doing a fruitless email exchange with a customer service rep at the card company, I just went to the online site for the insurance division and filed a claim.  Unfortunately, I know how these things go.  Their first response will most assuredly be that I am not covered.  Of course, their $19.95 premium deduction on the same statement containing the Hertz bill may be a bit difficult for them to ignore.  I wonder what the exclusions will be in the fine print?  Parking ramps in France?  Over/Under on the time frame to resolve?  6 weeks.  Taking the Over.

I took time to make one of my very irregular visits to Kohl's
over the weekend...since I had received a 30% Off coupon in the mail last week.  It was time to rotate through a few of the golf shirts that have made it through their last season on the course.  Either they are expanding their sizing, or I'm shrinking as I am now a Medium in most pullover dry-fit shirts.  There was a time when I was an Extra Large.  The last several years, I've bee a Large.  I'm thinking we might have an example of the Walmart-ing of America here.



I blew it here with failing to honor 3 as Daughter of the Day last week for her birthday.  Sorry, Kiddo.  There were a number of balls that hit the deck on my watch
last week.

I hope to get back with it on the blog.  Don't give up on me yet!

Make it a great week in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Sunday

We've got a classic Fall Sunday in the Quads today...sunny, mid '70's.  Really nice.

I'm not throwing anyone under the bus, but this cold has been a bummer the last couple of days.  I haven't been this sick since that bout with pneumonia 2-3 years ago.  It was bad enough that Cal thought some meds were in order, so he called in a Z-Pac  for me yesterday.  Unfortunately, my Walgreen's store was closed last night, so I didn't get the antibiotics until today.  But I slept better last night even without the medication, so I'm hopeful that I'm now on the mend to normalcy.

I'm kinda impressed with the Walgreen's pharmacy set-up.  Once they have you in the system, you get an automated call when your prescription is ready for pick-up.  They even have a procedure to automatically refill a script after passage of the time to use regular meds has come to an end.  And today, the gal asked if I wanted a no-charge flu shot while I was there. (She had noticed that the shot was fully covered by my insurance.)  I know all of this is simple data processing/management, but still, it takes someone to implement the program...and staff attentive enough to get 'r done.  Good for them.

Big win for the Hawks yesterday in IC.  I'm still not convinced that they're a Top Twenty team, but wins are wins.  Next week at Northwestern, they'll be put to the test, especially after the Wildcats got pasted yesterday at The Big House.  (Does anybody outside of Ann Arbor cheer for Harbaugh?  What a tool!)

We're back into pink in the NFL to support Breast Cancel Awareness month.  A little pink goes a long ways fellas.  Enough is enough.

The golfers were in South Korea this week for a competition called The President's Cup, a series of matches between USA players and an International team from non-European countries (South Africa, New Zealand, Korea, India, Australia, etc.).  It's a tournament designed in the early '90's to give those non-European players a chance to play in a Ryder Cup-like challenge in the off-years of the more-established Ryder Cup (which is played every-other year).

I found it hard to get very excited about the matches, even thought it was a very good tournament with top players.  I mean really, how many weeks can these guys keep the edge up?  Most of them just got done playing a series of four tournaments in the US that culminated just a couple weeks ago...after all of those other "big" tournaments throughout the Spring and Summer.  It becomes almost like that string of country music awards shows.  Plus, with the time difference, they were teeing off live at 8 or 9 PM for us in the Central time zone.  After two holes, it was at my bedtime!


The Jack Nicklaus-designed course is near Seoul, on some reclaimed land on the oceanfront.  I was surprised at the big sky-scrapers on the horizon.  My year in Korea was further down-country toward the South, but I don't remember the big buildings from the couple of times I was in Seoul.  Then again, we're talking my being there is now over 40 years ago.

The Augustana men are ranked #1 in the D-III pre-season b-ball poll.  They have like their top ten guys back from the team that lost in the national final game last Spring.  The coach was unable to persuade any D-I program to give them a pre-season game this year.  You can't blame the D-I coaches after Augie gave Iowa all they wanted  two years ago at Carver-Hawkeye, and then beat Bradley in Peoria last year.  Most coaches may not be mensa candidates, but risking a loss against a D-III team has no upside.  The standard response this year has been, "Maybe next season" (when all your good players have graduated!).

My effort to get into training for the Turkey Trot has been put on hold due to this cold.  When the body aches as bad as mine has the last few days, its hard to answer the bell.  I hope to get out at least a couple of times this week.  Thanksgiving will be here in a heartbeat.

All for today.  Hope it is a good week in your world.

BCOT

Wednesday

This will be short and sweet.  4 received notice today of her long-delayed and much deserved promotion to Line Producer at work.  She is Daughter of the Day!!!  As I have said many times, she is the perfect example of a person diving into the deep water with no guarantees.  She went to The Big Apple with no invitation, and carved out her space.  It is a great story. 

I always get a kick out of relating to friends and acquaintances how she is the voice in the ear of the sometimes variably-talented on-air news-readers.  In recent conversations with her, it has been good to hear the confidence in her voice and to see the proud bearing that comes across from someone who knows what she is doing.  The journey has not been painless, but she has learned how to take a punch...and how to respond.  Both of these qualities are useful throughout one's progression along the life line.

We are all very proud of her.

BCOT

Tuesday

That accelerator treadmill called my life has been at warp speed.  Not all bad stuff by any stretch, but there are quite a few balls in the air these days!

First things first, let's salute 1 as Daughter of the Day for the completion of her latest marathon.  Sunday actually worked out pretty good.  The weather was good for runners...a little chilly at the start, but 50's for most of the race with little wind and sunny/partly cloudy skies.  Twin Cities always does a great job of administratively running the marathon, and this year was no exception.  (The finish line area was a bit congested as the capital building has a major face-lift going on and there was limited egress as the crowds attempted to leave the area.  But no biggie.)

Congrats also to 1.1 who made it through the marathon circuit with a ton of determination.  Sounds like his last five miles were no fun.  The photogs had left the building when he came through the finish line.  Here he is with his favorite kindergartener at the coffee shop on Saturday AM.

My drive to/from Harvest Path was an easy one.  I managed to stay away from the sheriffs and highway patrolmen who were out in some numbers on the return trip.  My book on tape was a David Baldacci mystery that was better than some, but tedious to finish.  Again, another novel that had a convoluted ending.  Don't they all?

2 was actually a key player in the weekend.  She was in full charge of 1.01 and 1.02 while the rest of us were traipsing about Minneapolis and St. Paul.  She had driven up on Friday afternoon from IC so that she would have more of a "weekend" than the hit 'n run that I had scheduled.  She was Auntie of the Day...or at least Auntie of Sunday morning!

My meeting-up with 1 on the marathon route was reasonably efficient, very routine at 6 and 10, but we did manage to mis-connect at the 15-16 mile spot.  I had given her a wrong watch-point, and we just didn't see one another.  One of the rules of spotting in these races is that the runner and the watcher both have to be on the look-out or the connection can be easily missed.  There are just too many people.  Anyway, we caught back on with one another at the 19 mile marker, and again at 23.  My auto traffic management was near perfect.  I don't think I had to walk more than a 100 yards for any of the meets.  Disobeying parking and direction signs is a good rule to follow in these things.

And how 'bout the modified fff in Vermont last weekend?  Lots of moving parts to the clan on any given time.  Phil and Margaret would be pleased.

I don't think that I mentioned that the credit card standard in Europe was the "chip", not the "swipe".  I was actually a little worried about smaller restaurants wanting cash as opposed to credit, but we never really ran into that problem.  The waiter's had the chip-reader machine, and it would spit out the paper receipts.  It would even prompt for the transaction to be expressed in USD or Euro.

Most places wanted Visa, not AmEx, which was a bummer since my Starwood card has no foreign transaction fee, while my Visa had the standard 3%FTF.  I was able to use the Starwood card for my bike and one of the hotels.

Enough for today.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT

Friday

This has been a busy day.  And it is October.  September was a vapor trail.

I'm thinking that this pic from the French countryside could easily be made into a postcard or a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.  I took it with the iPhone on the country ride that late afternoon in Castres.  Beautiful scenery.  Same for the new Home Page pic which was taken on the wine tour in Saint Emilion, a couple hundred kilometers from Castres.

Another accomplishment of the trip was the fact that I watched exactly zero television while in our destination cities.  I did catch some random movies on the planes...nothing that I'd pay to go see.  And I routinely fast-forwarded most of the shows that I did watched.  I just don't have the interest.  My recollection is that 2 and I watched little if any TV on our last trip.  And I may have commented here about how easy it was for me to turn off the tube.  Let's face it, reality TV sucks.  And most of the recurring programs are not exactly mental gold mines.

2 and 4 definitely merit the distinction of Daughters of the Vacation...since Daughters of the Day seems like an inadequate designation.  They were generous with their time, and always considerate of Dear Old Dad throughout our trip.  I will always be grateful of their choice to spend time with me on a trip that offered little advance guidance...and food choices that left us all uncertain at times on our best menu options.

Our Hertz rental car was a mid-sized Ford with a hatch-back...that gave us sufficient room for ourselves, the bike box and our three suitcases for that trip to the Bordeaux airport.  Initially, I thought I might have to collapse the box for that short trip, and then expand it and box the bike after arrival at the airport.  But we were able to angle the box while still leaving one of the back seats upright for passenger seating so as to avoid that extra step packing at the airport. 

The car was a 6-speed manual transmission, with a diesel motor.  Really no problems other than my attempt to use regular gasoline the first time I had to fill the tank...even after reading the printing on the sticker near the fuel cap.  And there was a little bumper car action with some cement railings when I exited the parking garage on the way to the airport.  There is a reason that I subscribed to automatic insurance coverage through my American Express Gold Card whenever I rent a car.

If I had a higher level of cycling interest, I would have made a bigger effort to get out of the metropolitan areas for my rides.  Not that I would have wanted to climb any big TdF hills, but I do prefer country roads to the city streets.  Both Barcelona and Bordeaux had many bike lanes throughout the towns, but you still had to deal with the street lights and other traffic.  And the non-motorized traffic on the paved beach-front or river-side paths had the same challenges as our local bike paths...kids, dogs and old people.


The Bordeaux wine was head-and-shoulders better than the Spanish wines.  We never spent more than 25-30e for take-out bottles at stores, and rarely more than that in restaurants.  A couple of the  bottles that we brought home from our wine-tasting store cost a little more, but we also had a couple lower-priced options that kept the average bottle price under 30e.  I still don't buy into the proposition that any Bordeaux wine is good wine.  I'm more of the, "cheap wine is cheap wine" guy.

Lastly, props to 3.1 for passing another securities examination for his new position on Wall Street.  You da' man!

OK.  All for today.  I go up to the Twin Cities tomorrow to follow 1 in pursuit of another marathon completion.  Look for tweets from the road.

Make it a good weekend in your neighborhood.

BCOT

Thursday

This has been another day of inching back to normalcy.  The body is still a little off.  I was wide-awake at 0430 this morning...so I did laundry...and fully cleaned-out my checked-suitcase.  I think that I'll try to stay up a little later tonight and then get an extra 45 minutes or so of sleep.

I took the bike that I bought in Barcelona over to the local bike shop yesterday to get it tuned-up for anticipated sale on eBay/Craig's List.  There wasn't anything wrong with it, just needed a few small items tweaked after the initial road trials in Spain and France.  The bike is Trek's "starter" road bike, meaning it is not carbon-fiber, and has lower-end components.  That said, it's a fine bike, and if I don't get an adequate bid, I'll keep it for special purposes.

I passed my "left-over" Euro funds to my pal Roy who is leaving tomorrow for a 10-day river cruise in Portugal.  Among other places, they visit Fatima, so there will be candles lit and prayers said for us...I think.  There will be candles lit for sure.

Cards win!  Cards win!  Cards win!  The NL Central division.  All that means is that they don't have to play the one-game, sudden-death wild-card game.  As divisional winners, they get the 5-game series at least.  The Cubs and Pirates play the NL wild-card game, with the winner then getting the Cardinals.

In addition to the bike, we brought home six bottles of Bordeaux red wine.  Those bottles were packed in our checked-bags.  No problems.  We'll be saving those bottles for the right FFF in the future.  They won't be run through the regular MCSC inventory.

The RCL had been through her regular cleaning last week, so my house was pretty much spotless when I got home on Tuesday night.  The PN had mowed my yard.  Really, all I needed to do was, unpack, go to the grocery store, and then get my laundry done.  That was easy.

 

Dinner at a beach-front restaurant in Barcelona.

 

Saint Emilion.

 

Biking at the Atlantic near Bordeaux.

 

I have pictures on my phone that I need to transfer to my computer to supplement the regular camera pics.  There has to be a way>

 

All for today.

 

BCOT