Back in the Groove :o)

Phew, long day, and I am getting ready to hit the hay...

Productive day at our Strategic Advisory Group meeting, we developed a "hosting" document shell for the conduct of our Regional Meetings, which should come in handy as Beth plans our May 2009 regional meeting in South Bend. She was a trooper when I asked her if she would be up to the task (Thanks Honey :o)

I brought my workout clothes, and did head down at 5:00 P.M. for a 55 minute workout. This is the first one in about six weeks, and it was good. I think I am back in the groove and ready to make use of our little home gym :o)

Today is Friday, so hope you are making a smooth transition into the weekend :o)

Stud Muffin, NOT :o)

Here I am, in a hotel in Cedar Rapids, and my timing is immaculate :o)

The knock comes on the door, I mumble "just a minute", as I move the iron to a safe place.

I open the door to receive my shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, and cool amber beverages; with a slight flush on my cheeks, because you see, I am ironing my shirts for the next three days.

Using the iron is nothing new to me, I have used it many times on my travels and in my previous life, but having room service come-a-calling while it was in use is a new one on me :o)

Miss Ginger, I make this entry for you; Hugs.....

Cedar Rapids :o)

Alas, I do not yet have any pictures, as it was DARK when I got here today, but I am safe and sound in the near downtown of Cedar Rapids.

I am here for a Regional meeting of the Project Management Institute (PMI), Region 2. I will not bore you here with details, but I have been the Michiana Chapter President since 2005. We get together to brainstorm and share what works and what does not, several times per year :o)

For the most part, an enjoyable day. I spent the morning with my Bride, and it was very enjoyable as we both still had the election night glow going. We had some great laughs regarding a "troll" that emerged today on her Blog, but the traffic and comments at Nutwood Junction stand for themselves (if you have the stomach, go read them :o).

Then, about 1:00 P.M., I headed to the airport for my sojourn here to Cedar Rapids. I had the good fortune of sitting next to a Service Man (Army) in Chicago, and spent quite a time talking with him. Of course, I bought him a cool amber beverage, and shook his hand, giving him thanks for his service (he has been in Iraq).

On the way to the hotel, I was the only passenger on the "shuttle", and we had a great chat. He used to play football, and tried to get a scholarship at Iowa State (IU is the local favorite, but they would not give him the time of day). He has his degree, in Psychology, but could not find the right job (what a shame!!!), but had an excellent outlook. We discussed politics, higher education, sports, and educational opportunities. I could not help myself, because he was a great young man, and I went into mentor mode, and gave him some things to think about regarding getting Marriott to pay for his MBA :o)

Hope you are all having a great day today, I know mine was priceless :o)

Again, going out on a limb - Indiana Goes For Obama

Again, without going out on a limb, but looking at Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; with 99% of the precincts reporting, I am declaring Indiana for Obama :o)

I think that McCain did his best to be gracious in his concession, and that Obama made a plea to unite our country.

Who ever you voted for, lets get down to healing this GREAT country of ours.

Spotters Want to Know???

No, Spotters, I have not had to use one of these :o) LOL

Beth is being fairly subdued, if you ignore the "Oh Yea" outbursts, the "Nutwood Happy Dances" and such. She is still in the living room, has not been banished to the garage nor the back bedroom.

To provide full disclosure, I declared Barry the winner earlier tonight.

Let's hope that after tonight, that we can truly pull together as a country, and make some changes that will be long lasting for our competitiveness in the global economy, that we can bring some peace to troubled spots in the world, and heal the divisiveness that has emerged in our country. I think that this election has showed that the negative campaigning has run its course, and we now need to move to a more positive outlook.

CNN - You are too Conservative.

I am making the call, President Elect Obama :o)

Between a late night at work, a business trip tomorrow, and watching the election results, and trying to keep Beth in our orbit, I apologize in advance for not commenting and visiting as many "Spots" as normal tonight :o)

The Last Night Before the Election - Rove's Prediction

The final Rove & Co. electoral map of the 2008 election cycle points to a 338-200 Barack Obama electoral vote victory over John McCain tomorrow, the largest electoral margin since 1996. All remaining toss- up states have been allocated to the candidate leading in them, with Florida (27 EV) going to Obama, and Indiana (11 EV), Missouri (11 EV), North Carolina (15 EV), and North Dakota (3 EV) going to McCain. The two candidates are in a dead heat in Missouri and North Carolina, but they go to McCain because the most recent polls conducted over this past weekend show him narrowly ahead. Florida, too, could end up in McCain's column since he's benefited from recent movement in the state.

Sunday Chores :o)

We are having Beth's Junior/High School piano delivered to our house tomorrow. So today was making space in the basement for the piano. Beth indicates that she is self taught and looks forward to getting back into the habit. With the new addition of the garage home gym area, we moved the downstairs TV and stand to the old garage, and made a nice space for the new addition.

There was also a couple of hours of some sorting and porting of "stuff" from the basement to garages (one for long term storage, one for a spring garage sale).

The last chore was to "winterize" our deck area - which means covering the furniture and putting the Barbie under the eaves (winter meat cooking is via the Crock Pot or the broiler).

A fairly productive early part of the day, then off to the showers, and now it will be getting ready for another short work week. Since I had to work last weekend, I only had a three day work week last week (I was off Monday and Tuesday). This week is only a two day work week since I have a business trip that starts Wednesday and I return Saturday night. The good news is that on Wednesday when I went in to work I found out that I am no longer part of the extended outage, and I am back to my regular day job :o) So with two short weeks, I have some work-work that I need to get done.

Hope you are enjoying your fall weekend. Here is a couple of shots of our fall foliage out the back window.

Sunday Silliness - Arrogance

The best leaders inspire by example. When that's not an option, brute intimidation works pretty well, too.

November Wishes to You :o) - And Remember the Time Change

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween. Here in the Midwest, the weather cooperated both yesterday and today, with temperatures in the 60's.

Between some home projects, and a large stack of work-work, I could not sleep in past 7:15 this morning. So I turned on the coffee, headed out to get the paper, and was all caught up on news and Spotters by 9:00. I put in a couple of hours of work-work, then got on with the program.


I headed out to Lowes to get some electrical supplies, and the place was very busy. I hope that is a sign that after 4-6 weeks of hunkering down, that we are ready to start venturing out a bit and get our economy moving a bit. When I talked to the manager (who opened up a new lane), he indicated that it was very busy, and he was appreciative when I said "that is a good thing :o)"

The main plan today was to install some new outlets in the old garage for our home gym area. I turned off the breaker for the garage, but put on gloves just in case, and sure enough, when I cut into the wire for one of the outside lights, sparks flew. Drat, I did not do a thorough vetting of the candidates for energizing my garage campaign (sound familiar? :o). So, we powered down the house, I installed the new outlets, did a reconnoiter of the power source, and we are back up and running (and know which breaker to use next time :o). We took the opportunity to reset all of the clocks for the time change tonight/in the morning (0200 hours), so no-harm-no-foul. I also picked up two new oil-radiant heaters, and some new 150W equivalent CFL bulbs for the home gym garage area. Tomorrow, we will assemble the weight machine, and we will be up and running.

Currently watching ND, a 3-3 tie with Pitt, and Illinois starts their game at 3:30, so ta-ta for now!