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1/14/16 -- We have had a good time in St Petersburg FL. We are at Conner's Mobile Home park. It is a nice park. Mostly has mobile homes, they rent out some of the open sites to RV's like us. They have a nice pool and shuffle board courts and people like to be active. There are several places to go and we are close to the beach. I have found that I have to have my left knee replaced, not looking forward to it! I am also starting on my write up of my opinion of the Pesidents that have served during my lifetime. This should be an interesting project. I'm also working on my list of issues that I feel should be formost in the minds of the voters for the 2016 election. I'm also starting on a revamp of my chess page. I need to make it more of a learning process for novice chess players. 

2/13/15 Interesting concept -- welcome to  the post-ACA world.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/13/cornell-student-body-furious-over-school-health-care-opt-out-fees/

This is an interesting concept. I agree that we should have more insight into the workings of the FED, but I'm not sure exactly what the bill to audit the FED would include. Need more information.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whats-at-stake-in-the-audit-the-fed-battle-2015-02-11

We should always remember the sacrifices made by our people during WWII to help fight off the attempt by fascists to enslave the world. Here is one example. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/29/opinion/lauder-great-raid-cabanatuan-pow-camp-1945/index.html

I believe that the current jihadist movement is a similar attempt that we need to oppose.

Jan 21, 2015 It appears that the overall economic health of the world is not good. My personal opinion is that many countries have artifially stimulated their economies with deficit spending to the point that it no longer works and we are drowning in a sea of debt.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-central-banks-surprise-fed-may-have-to-throw-in-the-towel-2015-01-21

**** I hope Congress and the White House can agree to fix this problem with the Internet. Sen. Thune has the ball here, I'm sure he'll find a good solution.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/229669-its-time-for-congress-to-end-the-net-neutrality-wars

 

**** I have issues with what many people are saying about global warming.

First: I believe that the earth has gotten warmer from about 1850 thru 1998 but I believe that the role humans have played in this process has been vastly overstated.

Second: I believe that the rate of increase has been much less or non existant in the last 15 years. See this link for evidence.

http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/01-17-15_monckton_on_2014_temps.pdf

****   While I will need to know a great deal more about the proposal and how it would be implemented (for instance how would it differ from the Pell Grant program) I support the President's proposal to make the first 2 years of community college tuition free.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/228985-obama-to-propose-free-community-college

1/7/15 -- It's been a bit cool here in McAllen TX. It's warm today but the next week is supposed to be back into the low 40's. Really haven't done much since we returned from Indiana. I missed the chess club last nite because of a DR appt. I hope we can get out and explore a bit in  the next few days.

1/6/15 -- I really wish that more people would check with places like factcheck.org before believing radical leftwing or rightwing propaganda. Case in point is the right wing claim that members of congress get full salaries when they retire. Here are the facts:

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/01/congressional-pensions-update/

 

12/31/14 -- As this year draws to a close I'm changing my process of updateing my blog. I will be posting fewer political links on facebook and instead putting them here in this blog. We shall see how sucessful this will be. Here is the first. An article in usnews.com about how ISIS may evolve in 2015. I hope you will enjoy and comment on my notes.

 http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/12/31/the-war-with-isis-5-things-to-look-for-in-2015?page=2

 

Long busy summer. We have been to 3 more races; Pocono 500, the Mid Ohio 200 and the Milwaukee 250. Had a great time. We have also spent a lot of time working on various problems with the camper and truck. I'm hoping that we have them all fixed now.

June, 2014 - Back in Indiana. We have now seen 3 IndyCar Races this year. What fun! My buddy from Panther Racing, Joe, has moved to Ed Carpenter Racing. So far this year the team has won two races, and I'm so happy for them! We have been able to visit with our family since we returned the first of May and saw one of the best Indy 500's ever this year. It was the 33rd consecutive 500 for my lovely Bride and I.

I was reading that there have been about 50 million refugees in the world this year, the most since WWII. Very sad. Almost all of them are due in some way to Islamic groups. I find this very distressing and feel that the world is headed for a holy war between the Christians, Jews, and Secular groups and radical Islamic groups. So sad that so many people will be killed, displaced, enslaved or other wise affected by this. I wish I had a solution, I don't!

We are looking forward to taking our grand daughter Grace to Niagra Falls next week. That should be a great time!

February 20, 2014 - The weather here in Tucson continues to be great! We have been plannning, our summer. It looks like we should be able to goto, let's see, maybe 6 IndyCar Races this summer. We will also get to take Grace on vacation with us and are planning on going to Hawaii to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anneversary. So we have a lot going on.

I have been playing a lot of chess. Some good, some bad. I have to take some breaks from studying and playing because I tend to lose my focus at times and lose games I should win.

January 8th, 2014 Hmmm, didn't realize that I had not updated this for so long. Another year is here. We are planning on spending the summer in the east. We get to take Grace  for a trip with us this summer. She wants to go to Niagara Falls and the Gulf Shore (a mere 1000 miles apart. lol) So we need to figure out some way to do that. She also wants to go to an IndyCar race. So we may take her to the race in Birmingham. I would like to go to New York City to see the new World Trade Center and to play at the Marshall Chess club in NYC. Then we are planning on going on a trip to Hawaii in the fall for our 40th wedding anniversary.

10/26/13 The New Mexico State Championship did not go well for me. I was flat and only scored 1 1/2 out of 4. There is an Arizona Senior Open in Tuscon in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping to play in it. I would like to do better, we'll see. The brake problem that we saw in Albuquerque reappeared on our way to Big Bend Nationial Park in Texas. We had a broken brake line on the right rear. Because of the way the truck sat when the trailer was not hooked up it didn't leak then. Got it fixed in El Paso. We will be heading to Tuscon tomorrow for the winter. Hope to find a school that would like some help with their chess club while I'm there.

 9/27/13 It appears that my problem with the truck was a clogged oil filter. I also had a small leak in my brakes. A fitting was loose. I'm going to get the brakes replaced on the front wheels and get the oil changed next week. Hope this fixes all the truck problems for the time being. I'm going to play in the New Mexico State Chess Championship this weekend. Hope I don't embarass myself. The weather is very good here in Albuquerque and we expect to be here for another 3 weeks.

9/12/13 We are still in Woodland Park. We were going to leave but we seem to have a problem with the truck. Althought the gauges show that we are ok, I'm getting a warning light saying that we are overheating. The Freightliner dealer is swamped so we will be here til Tuesday when he can look at the truck.

9/6/13 We are currently in Woodland Park, CO which is 8,500 feet above sea level. We came here from Cortez, CO accross US 160 crossing Wolf Creek Pass to get here. It is an 8 mile uphill pull that appeared to be about 8% grade so it took us a while. But we made it, only to be faced with a 13 mile 5% pull thru multiple small towns to get to the RV park. When we got here we found out that there was only 1 place left that we could fit into, and that was very tight!!! Once we got set up I really didn't do much other than read a bit, then go to bed. It has been a hectic 2 weeks, and I'm getting a little tired. I'm rather looking forward to spending some down time in New Mexico.

8/24/13 We are now in Salt Lake City. Since I last updated this blog we have spent time in Boise and Twin Falls. I must say that the Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls is quite beautiful. This has been quite a trip so far, we will be headed to Bryce Canyon and on to Dever CO. We will be going to see Real Salt Lake play the Columbus Crew tonite. It has been a couple of years since we got to see an MLS game. Also, I stumbled upon a movie on TV called "A Flea in Her Ear" which is a farce set in Paris. I don't nomally care for such movies but this one is quite funny!

8/6/13 We are now in Arco, ID. We are going to the Moon Crater National something, its not a national park but it is a lava flow that is similar to the surface of the moon. We have enjoyed our trip thru the mountains thus far. Not much else to talk about.

6/29/13 We are now in Rapid City after spending May in Indianapolis and June going to IndyCar races in Milwaukee and Iowa. Unfortunatly we will not be able to make any additional races this year. Perhaps we can find a sprint car race or midget race while we are traveling this summer. Panther racing has made some big changes in drivers and engineers this season. Seems like the changes paid off in the Iowa race.

The Indiana Pacers had a great year and we hope will contend for the league championship next year.

I guess it's time to weigh in on the Supreme Court decision on same sex marriages. I really don't care how people choose to live there lives as long as they are not hurting others, however when I'm being forced to Approve, Facilitate, and Promote behavior that I disagree with I have a problem. I do feel that homosexual behavior is abnormal. There is a big difference between acceptance or tolerance of others and approval of their behavior.

4/30/13 We had a great time at St Pete for the race there. Got to visit with my old buddy Luke. Spent a week in Destin FL which was lot of fun! We then went off to the race in Birmingham. Great race! After a couple of weeks in Columbia TN we are now in Greenfield IN. We will be here til about the middle of June before heading out west of the summer. We plan to stop in Milwaukee and Newton Ia for races on our way west. We have not visited Idaho, Utah, or Colorado since we retired so we plan to rectify that this summer.

3/4/13 We just ordered our tickets to the St Petersburg race. We are very excited about seeing the first race of the 2013 IndyCar season. Hope our boys and girls at Panther Racing will do well. We will be leaving St Cloud on the 21str of March for St Pete, then spending some time in Destin in the Florida Panhandle. Then on to Birmingham for the race there. We will then spend some time with Mike, Amanda and the grandkids before finally making our way to Greenfield.

2/11/13  We are continuing to enjoy ourselves as we gear up for the summer trips. We plan to go to 7 IndyCar Races and visit Utah, Idaho and Colorado. Those are the last 3 states we have not visited since we retired. We will probably spend the next winter in Tuscon AZ. IU and Pacers basketball team continue to play well and we spend lots of time watching their games. Have a nice day!

1/6/13 -- Oh my! The weather outside is, well not frightful! It's now 6:30pm and 75 outside. Sigh, we couldn't ask for any better! We went to the SportsBar to watch the Colts play the Ravens. We were a little short, but frankly I thougt the Ravens playe a very good game. I wish the game had been played in Indianapolis, but is wasn't. I have been studying chess while I'm here with Alex Zelner, he is a senior master here in Orlando and he is changing my game from a positional game to an attacking game. It is very hard, especially at my age, to make such a change so my recent results have not been great. But, I'm starting to understand what to look for and am beginning to recognize the patterns that lead to wining material and ultimately to Checkmate. I have been looking at the results of the election and really am still perplexed by the results (not the fact that Obama won, but rather by the way he won). The election map has changed, especially in Ohio. The Republicans need to figure out how to win there again. I hope all of you have a great 2013 and you will continue to read my blog. lol

 11/8/12 -- The Election is over and we have re-elected the president. Not what I wanted. However th people have spoken and the great republic will continue for the next 4 years. I was suprised by a couple of things about the election mostly the turnout. Based on the TV reports I thought the turnout was about the same as in 2008, but in reality it was about 13 million less. With Obama getting 10 million less votes. Romney actually polled about 3 million votes less than McCain in 2008. I really need to figure out why. Also I was amazed to see that Hamilton County in Ohio went blue again, by 20,000 votes! I plan on spending some time researching some of this and will post my conculsions in the next couple of weeks. Other than the election we are now in St Cloud FL and the weather couldn't be better! We are in a nice area with lots to do. We have been washing and waxing the trailer and I have some stuff to do to the truck this winter.

9/3/12 -- We have arrived in Columbia TN to visit with our son Mike and his family. We have had a great time in TN this summer and are looking forward to spending some time in Greenfield before heading to Kissimmee FL for the winter. Please check out my chess page as I have some updates  for that. It looks like the Presidential Election will be very close. I'm rooting for Romney but it's very hard to beat a sitting president unless there is a dramatic event like a third party candidate, great scandal or the like. I'm hoping to get an update done for my political blog soon.

8/10/12 -- The temperature has moderated here a bit, and we have had some rain. So that is good. We went to see the Tenessee Smoky's last nite. They lost a good game to the Huntsville Stars. It was fun to go to a AA Minor League game. We have done that several times since we have started our adventures. All hooked up for the Indianapolis Open. I had a Chess lesson with IM Dr Danny Kopec, he is a very good teacher and I hope to continue working with him his winter.

7/27/12 -- Still very hot here, When I booked this campground I was thinking that is was up in the mountains and would be fairly cool for the summer. Wrong! This place is as hot as the rest of the country. So much for trying to be smart! Looks like I'm going to be able to play in the Indianapolis Open on August 17th thru the 19th. I'm looking forward to seeing if the work I have done for the last few weeks will get me over the hump. I will still be playing in a section were most of the players will be higher rated than I, but I should be able to compete, and hopefully score a few points.

 7/16/12 -- Arrived in Pigeon Forge TN for the rest of the summer. Hope to be better to be at  keeping this up to date.

At the World Open, I was surprised to see that only the top 12 boards in the open section were partitioned off and that board 1 did not always contain the tournament leader and that many times you would find Grandmasters playing on the same type of tables the rest of us use, and had to provide their own equipment. I was also struck by the variaty  of chess sets, clocks and boards used. There were a couple of people who brought large wooden boards and wooden sets. There were also many players who used very inexpensive sets and clocks.

7/11/12 -- Finished the World Open. Played well, but didn't score well. Click here for the complete update.

7/6/12 -- Playing in the World Open Chess Tournament in Philadelphia, PA. After 4 rounds I have 2 losses and 2 draws. Need to win today! I'll try to post some of my games tomorrow.

4/30/12 -- Almost time for the Indy 500! Can't wait! We will be headed to the Milwaukee race in June and then off to the east coast for the World Open. Heading to the Pacers game tonight. I'm looking for a good game by them in their quest for a run deep into the playoffs this year. It's shaping up to a close race between President Obama and Mitt Romney this fall. I will soon publish my thoughts on what the campaign issues will be by both parties. It's very hard to defeat the incumbent, so I don't have much hope for Mitt.

4/6/12 -- Oh my it has been a long time since I updated my blog. sorry. I played in 2 chess tournaments in Corpus Christi in March. I played ok in the first scoring 1 1/2 out of 3, then scored 2 1/2 out of 3 in the second to win it.  The second tournameent was much weaker than the first but I felt that I had played well. My Hoosiers did well this year advancing to the sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament before falling to the eventual national champs Kentucky. The Pacers are currently in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference in the NBA. Quite a feat for a team that has not had a winning record for many years. Romney looks like he'll win the Republican nomination for president. At this time I don't think he'll beat Obama in the fall, but there is lots of time left and many things can happen.

2/15/12 -- Played in a fast chess tournament last week and won 1 lost 2. Played badly. I'll try again this week. The weather has been good here and there is not much going on. We are enjoying Corpus Christi.

1/10/12 -- I was able to work as the Asst TD at a chess tournament in Corpus Christi over the weekend. The weather here is real nice right now. Not much going on. I'm trying to update his a bit more but much of the time I lead a very quiet life. lol But the Pacers are 6-2 and the Hoosiers are 15-1. Nice to see my basketball teams doing well after a few down years.

1/3/12 -- The New Year is here! We since my last update we have been in Houston, went back to Indiana to see our younger son when he returned from a tour in Iraq, spent Christmas with our older son in Tennessee, returned to Houston to pick up the rig and are now in our winter digs in Rockport Tx. We are at Lagoons RV Resort. The campground is nice with concete sites and MANY activities for to keep us busy. I'm going to help with a chess tournament this weekend and hope to have the opportunity to help with some of the kids in schools in this area.

11/7/11 -- We  are now in Houston, TX for the month of November. I'm still hurting over the death of Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas. We went to the Renasaunce Fair here yesterday. It was very interesting. I'm beinning to feel that Mitt Romney may be my  choice for the nomination. However, at this time I expect Obama to win. Now, a year from now we'll know how right I am...lol

9/9/11 -- We sre in Washington DC waiting for our truck to be repaired. Apparently the fuel pump has died and left us stranded. This is the 3rd day since we had it towed in. It is supposed to be fixed today. Since my last update we have gone to the Mid Ohio race, New Hampshire race, Cape Cod, got hammered by Irene in Utica, NY and gone to the Baltimore race. As we have traveled to the races this summer I can't say enough about the hospitality of the Panther Racing Team -- Joe Hedges, JR Hildebrand, Doug, Anna and the whole crew. We also have to mention the TRC Mazda Star team of Jerimy Daniel who along with Max have been great people to visit with at the various tracks.

7/24/11 -- We are currently in Dayton OH for the rest of the week. We're going to visit my Aunt Lorraine who is turning 99 in a couple of weeks. We went to the Dayton Air Show yesterday which was very good. We will be headed to Columbus next week to visit the capital and then off to the Mid Ohio Indy Car Race on August 7th.

6/26/11 -- We are getting ready to leave Altoona IA after seeing the capital and watching the Iowa 250 race. We will be heading to Springfield, IL and then on to Champaign IL to pick up Abby for our little trip out west.

Looks like the financial crisis in Europe has been avoided for the moment. We as a people still need to address the fact that governments, our and others cannot continue to artificially stimulate their economies with deficit spending. This started in the 1930's with FDR during the Great Depression and was needed then. However, it has become an addiction. We need to break that habit and begin to look for ways to promote real growth and full employment. Wish I knew how this can be done.

6/17/11 -- We are now at the Milwaukee Mile Racetrack. We went to practice today and visited with the Panther Racing team and the Star Mazda team of Jerimy Daniel. My lovely bride then gave me a father's day gift. A 3 lap ride in the IndyCar 2 seater. Very exciting! I cannot describe how I felt while going around the track at close to racing speeds.

6/3/11 -- The Indy 500 was one of the best I have been to. There was plenty of action and the issue was not decided til the last moment. We had a great time with friends Steve and Jan and area looking forward to going to the race with them next year. JR had a great run and only a slippery track and a slow car prevented his victory. Congratulations go to Dan Weldon for his 2nd Indy 500 Win!

We are getting ready to head out once again on our Adventures of Bob & Kathy. We are on our way to Milwaukee for the race there and then on to Iowa. Granddaughter Abby is going to join us for a couple of weeks after the Iowa race.

It is amazing that we are not able to visit all of our friends here in the 6 weeks we spend in Indiana each spring. The only thing I miss in our travels is visiting with our friends and family.

 5/29/11 -- Wow what a spring! We have been to 2 IndyCar Races (St Petersburg and Barber, We have struggled with the suspension on the camper. I also have been spending a lot of time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We are getting ready for my 30th consecutive Indy 500! I am very excited as this looks like one of the best fields in the history of the event. I really feel that there are 3 possible winners -- JR Hildebrand, Alex Tagliani or Ed Carpenter. I will be rooting for all of them. I feel that for the first time in many years and "outsider" will win the race.

 3/7/11 -- Check out my chess page for my comeback results in my first chess tournament in 25 years. The events in Libya seem to be moving towards civil war. I have been dissapointed in the White House response to this, as the statements from different people in the White House have sent conflicting messages to the world. We really need to be much more together on the responses.

Kathy and I are finalizing our plans for the summer. We are going to follow IndyCar racing around the country.
We plan to attend 8 or 9 races. We are very excited about this.

 2/14/11 -- Interesting, Iran which supported the demonstrators in Egypt is attacking it's own demonstrators with tear gas and soldiers. Guess they are more interested in social reform in other countries instead of their own. I thought it was very interesting that the Obama administration started out supporting the government in Egypt, then abandoned them. They really need to be better organized on their responses to world events.

 I'm going to play in a chess tournament on March 5th in St Petersburg. It's a one day 5 round G30 tournament. I'm looking forward to it and I hope I'm not embarrased by my play.

I have not seemed to be able to get past the 197 platoue with my weight. I'm going to try to get out an run a bit this afternoon and maybe get down to my goal in the next couple of weeks.

1/28/11 -- The unrest in Egypt is disturbing. I'm all for more freedom, I hope that they are able to form a better government that will create a better life for the individual Egyptions. However, once you start a revolution it's very hard to know who will come out as the winner. What I really hope is that the new government there is not a radical islamic group like in Iran.

We are going to the WarBirds show in Punta Gorda today. I'll have some pictures later. We'll also be posting some pictures from the Cruise next week.

1/24/11 -- Hello from chilly Florida. I've been very busy here. I found a chess club in Sarasota where a master gives a lecture each week and there are some strong players to play. I enjoy it very much. I have also started working with the chess club at the Port Charlotte Middle School. It's a lot of fun and hopefully I'm able to help the kids a bit with their chess. We are leaving on the 31st for a 5 day cruise. We have two days in port and 3 days on the ship. I'll be posting some pictures once we get back.

I see the Democrats and the Republicans have ramped up the attacks as congress sets down to work. The things Im hearing from both parties is more on the level of pre election rather than post election attacks. I'm thinking most of these people are more interested in attention than in the advancement of the American Culture. Really Sad!

12/6/10 -- I'm sorry it has been so long since my last update. We spent some time in Greenfield, IN  before heading to Thomasville, GA to work with NOMADS at the Vashti Center. On the way we had problems with the Truck (a brake caliper was hanging up) and one of the tires blew out on the trailer. Fortunatly we use sensors on all the tires so we were able to avoid having much damage to the trailer. But we had to change the tire. The jack I carried would not raise the trailer, and we were lucky that another camper stopped by and had a jack we could use.

 On top of the vehicle problems my computer went belly up. First the hard drive died, then aftetr Dell sent me a new hard drive we discovered a problem with the mother board and I had to sent the computer back to Dell....I left them strict instuctions to send the computer to Vashti, instead they sent it back to Kathy's sister since that was the return address on the shipping label, so that delayed things another week and cost me a little bit of money. I lost a good deal of data off the computer as the backup was not correct. So, since I was going to be starting over I decided to get up to date on softward, buying Office 2010 and Expression Web 4 to replace my web editor from Frontpage 2003. I now have everything back to the point that I can start updating my website again.  

8/8/2010 -- Wow what a summer. It's been hot in Tennessee with record breaking temps as high as 100. We have had a great time with our son Mike and his family.  We've been swimming more than we have in years.

It's been interesting to see the arguments on the Arizona immigration bill. I do find it hard to believe that the Obama administration is objecting to it in court after allowing "sanctuary cities" to flaunt the federal law for so long. This is not a Republican/Democrat issue! This is a situation that the government has allowed to get out of control for years, back to the Nixon Administration. It was made much worse with the Carter amnesty for illegal aliens. But, we have not addressed the issue under republican presidents either!

We have to do a few things about our southern border.

1. We have to secure the border against smuggling of dope, people and exotic animals. This means that we need more people on the border, Border Patrol, National Guard, Army, Coast Guard....all can be used to improve the process. 
2. We need to enact and enforce better laws to keep people from hiring illegal aliens. If illegal's cannot get jobs here they will leave.
3. We need to quit providing social services to illegal aliens. Schools, medical, welfare, etc
4. We need to resolve the issue of the so called anchor children. Illegal aliens come to this country, have a child born here (who is then a citizen) and are allowed to stay because of they are the parents of a citizen. I don't know how to resolve this issue.

I have continued to play chess at the Rutherford county chess club. I feel that there is a possibility that I can play in a USCF tournament this fall if I continue to study openings and end games.

Kathy and I went to the House of Staunton showroom in Toney Al on our way to the Space Center in Huntsville. What a disappointment! They had a few sets out, but they are really just an online store. I was hoping that they would have a display of antique chess sets belonging to the owner, but he has retired and his collection was sold to a museum in Europe.

 6/27/10 -- Well the World Cup was not as successful for the USA as I had hoped. We did get to the knockout round with good results against England, Slovenia and Algeria. But we allowed a goal at the start of the game with Ghana. After equalizing we allowed another goal at the start of overtime. Drat!

The Pacers drafted two wing players in the NBA draft. We still need a point guard. I'm sure we will have to trade for one. I'm going to be real unhappy if we go to the training camp without a new starting point guard.

I went to the Rutherford County Chess Club last Friday. It meets in the Lutheran Church in Murfreesboro, TN. It was interesting to play without a clock for the first time in years. I lost the first game, then drew the next two. All in all I player pretty well. I have a long way to go to get ready to play in a USCF tournament. We are only about 50 miles away from the House of Staunton showroom in Toney, AL. I plan to get down there in the next 2 weeks.....I have promised my wife that I would not buy any more chess sets....LOL

 6/22/10 -- Another long overdue update. Let me see, the US has a good chance to advance in the World Cup. I'd like to see them make a good run the rest of the way, but they need to quit giving up early goals! We had a great time at the Indy 500 this year. A very good race with lots of passing right in front of us. I just wish that the last yellow had not come out, I think Weldon would have won as Dario was short on fuel. The NBA draft day is Thursday, it will be interesting to see what the Pacers do...they need a Point Guard!!!!

4/4/10 -- Oh my! 2 months since an update! Wow! Butler is in the Championship Game of the NCAA tournament! We watched the game with Michigan State and it was most interesting. I'm rooting for Butler to win Monday against Duke, but the Bulldogs will have to shoot better to beat Duke. If they shoot well then they can win. It's hard to believe that we are ready to leave the sunny skies of Tucson and head back east. We plan to spend 2 weeks in Columbia, TN visiting Mike, Amanda and the kids, then go to Indiana for the month of May to visit with Eric & Kat and the rest of our family. I will be working at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the last half of the month and, as we have for several years now, will be attending the race with Steve and Jan. We have great seats right on the outside of the track on the start/finish line. After the race we will be headed back to Tennessee for the rest of the summer. It will be really great spending the summer with Mike, Amanda and the grand kids.

Tucson has been great! The weather has been wonderful (much warmer this year than Florida) and there is so much to do here. We have made much more of an effort to see the area here than we have in the past and we still are not going to see all we want to. We think that we will need to come back in a couple or three years for another winter.

I was looking at our pictures of Alaska yesterday. Already I had forgotten how beautiful the country is there. That is another trip that we will have to repeat before too long. I have one more session with the bridge group, the poker group and the Tucson chess club before we leave. All of them have been great! 

 1/21/10 -- Sorry it's been so long since my last update. A couple of interesting points.

The change in the Senate seat in Massachusetts means that we can now work toward setting up a bi-partisan health care reform bill that will actually help people in the US. (see my notes below)

I'm really disappointed in the Vikings and Bret Farve for their actions at the end of the game with the Cowboys last week. Much as I hate the Cowboys, the Vikings should have run the ball, run out the clock and walked off the field. Passing the ball into the end zone with less than 2 minutes to go on forth down shows a distinct lack of class. I am now rooting for the Saints next week.

We have been enjoying life here in Tucson. It's been warmer than in Florida and there is much to do. We have been to 4 museums and plan another out tomorrow.

I have been doing pretty well in the stock market til the last couple of days. A lack of transparency in the Chinese government as to their banking regulations has put a damper on the market. Hopefully it will stabilize in the next couple of days as I am not positioned for a big drop in the market.

11/25/09 -- The trial of the 911 preps' is going to be a circus, Having that trial in New York City, in a civilian court is the dumbest thing that this administration has done to date! The US is now the laughing stock of the world!

10/30/2009 Ok…time for the political soapbox.

1.    Gore Vidal calls the 13 year old girl that Roman Polanski drugged and raped a “hooker”! Woopie Goldberg says that it wasn’t “rape rape” …..what do you call it when an adult man lures a 13 year old girl into a trap, drugs her, then rapes her? He should have never been allowed to plead guilty to “unlawful sex with an underage child”, he should have been put in the state pen, with a cellmate named Bubba!

2.   The national health care plan: We can do better than is being proposed. How about?
a.   The government writes re-insurance for the health care insurance companies to protect them against catastrophic health care bills.
b.   Restrictions are removed so the insurance companies are able to do business nationally rather than by state so the risk pool is much larger.
c.   Insurance companies are no longer able to reject applicants because of family history or pre existing conditions.
d.   We set up a national health database with all peoples health records so people who are going to a new doctor have the records available.
e.   We change the tort laws to restrict the size of malpractice suit settlements.
f.   We set up a process that any government subsidized insurance is not available to people who are in the country illegally. That means they have to PROVE they are in the country legally.

I feel better now.

10/30/2009 -- Las Vegas...oh my....Played poker at Binion's last nite. Got busted by a guy who got runner runner spades to beat my straight. I'm now about even for all my poker in Reno, Carson City and Vegas. Not too bad! We are going to see Penn & Teller at the RIO tomorrow nite. Should be fun. We will be heading out to the Grand Canyon on Monday.

10/11/2009 -- Went to Lake Tahoe instead of Virginia City yesterday, beautiful area. As usual any hopes we had for the Indiana football team went down when Virginia beat them 47-7...that's a bit embarrassing! I found this article on raising children...you may want to read it. Is it Safe to Let Your Kids Walk to School? (usnews.com)

10/09/2009 -- From Carson City, NV....headed to Virginia City tomorrow. Thought you might be interesting in this article from Reuters: (Link) on the Nobel Prizes.

10/05/09 -- Well back on line. We're here in Reno...I have played poker 3 times since we arrived. I'm up a couple of hundred. I'm pretty happy about that as I wondered how I would do in what I think of as a more professional poker environment. So far I have held my own. We have looked into changing our cell phone (att) and aircard (sprint) but for us these seem to be the best companies. Not much else to talk about, I'll try to update this in a more timely manner now that we have things worked out technically.

Interesting article -- (Link)

8/29/09 -- We are in BC and headed for Vancouver, should be back in the lower 48 by Sept 5th or so. I have read about Ted Kennedy's passing. Whenever I hear of him I wonder what Mary Jo Kapechne's family really thinks of him and how the media would react to someone like Sarah Palin if that happened to one of her aids. Chappaquiddick

Also this on the Lockerbie Bomber -- Link

8/23/09 -- Here is an interesting tidbit from www.snopes.com  about Obama's answer (or lack there of) about his health care plan. http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/network.asp

 8/22/09 -- Hope to leave Valdez tomorrow if our mail comes today. Mail service (or UPS or FexEx) is slow up here.  I'm really excited about the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Colts and can't wait for the seasons to start.

8/5/09 -- musings while waiting for repairs on our trailer. It appears that the Anchorage Public Library is blocking access to www.foxnews.com, www.facebook.com, and www.myspace.com. Wonder why? www.cnn.com seems to be working fine.

7/20/09 -- Here is an article on how radical Islamics recruit new members. (Link) Most interesting. What is the best way to combat such a tactic. Here is another article...don't understand how people can do things like this. (Link) Ok...guess I'm reading too much news - lol - Here's another article. (Link)

 7/18/09 -- Here is an article on the pollution and over fishing of our oceans. This is much more of a problem than the idea that humans are the blame for global warming. Oceans in Trouble

7/9/09 -- Wow more than a month since my last update. Sorry. It's hard to find an internet connection here in Alaska. Just wanted to say that Mt McKinley is unbelievable!!!

6/5/09 -- Politics again...LOL....I was watching TV when I saw someone suggest that the Bush Administration and the FEMA director were criminally responsible for thousands of deaths from Katrina in New Orleans. Sigh....rather than go off on a rant about the sloppy and inaccurate reporting I'll just put a link to an article in Popular Mechanics discussing the myths of Katrina.

5/28/09 -- One more political note (promise that this is the last for at least a couple of days..LOL) Newt Gingrich has called Sotomayer a racist. link While he does have a point of some sort, I think it's minor....however to his point if a  white male was to say "my experience as a white male makes me better than a Latina woman." he would be forced to withdraw his name from consideration...Why do we have a double standard?

5/27/09 -- Ok back to politics...LOL...Sonia Sotomayer is the new nominee to the Supreme Court. She appears to be qualified. What I don't like is the politics of the nomination.  She appears to me to be a play for the Hispanic vote in the US. I agree with this quote from www.cnn.com....

5/23/09 -- It's the day before the 500. I'm already excited. I'm getting together tonite with some friends for a poker game. Hope I get some cards. It looks like we are going to miss the Milwaukee race next weekend..perhaps next year. I plan to have a page with just pictures from Alaska. Hope some of you will be able to check it out as we head out for our newest adventure.

You can add your cell phone to the national do not call list by calling 888-382-1222. You can also sign up online at here: Do not call list

5/13/09 -- Hard to believe that I haven't updated this since the end of April...I'll try to do better. Did anyone see the press conference with Obama and Pelosi about health care today? I believe Obama has some good ideas about this but I almost fell out of the chair when I saw Pelosi jump to get in the last word...what a grandstand play!!! She reminds me more and more of Newt! On a better note the Indy 500 practice and qualifying are going well. I work in the garage area making sure people have the proper credentials to get into the garage. I've had some interesting moments. Perhaps next week I'll put out a compilation. LOL.

I also found some clips on you tube about the 1970 Pacers ABA championship. You may want to check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegXNzkHRsI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegXNzkHRsI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegXNzkHRsI&feature=related

4/28/09 -- One more week til I start at the Speedway for the 500. I'm very excited about this year. I had to get some work done on the brakes on the truck...cost me more than I thought it would. We are busy trying to get ready for our summer trip to Alaska. Hope you read the blog. Great Alaskan Adventure

4/17/09 -- We have been visiting Mike & Amanda to help them with their move to Tennessee. We have also spent several days with Eric & Kat. Hopefully the RV dealer will have the part in and we can get back home today. US politics are very interesting right now. The Texas Governor threatens secession...real stupid. Here is an interesting link on Obama's release of the Bush Administration's interrogation guidelines.  Link

4/2/09 -- Back home again in Indiana...due to some family business we're a bit early returning. Interesting how Obama keeps having trouble finding appointees that pay their taxes..More later.

3/19/2009 -- Another beautiful day in Florida. We went biking this am and will play golf tomorrow. My friend Bill is coming down for the Sebring 12 hour race on Saturday. Should be a good one. I have another link to an article that you might want to read...Link

3/12/2009 -- interesting article on Nancy Pelosi...reflects my view....she's as bad as Newt was..Link

3/11/2009 -- Sorry I have been so long in updating this...Since I last updated this we went to Key West, went to an Alligator show, took an air boat ride, watched IndyCar testing at the Sebring Raceway and have played golf.

One of things I have run across on the internet is a record by a St Petersburg newspaper keeping track of President Obama's campaign promises. It's pretty well done and seems to be rather neutral on it's assessment. If you would like to check it out see it here.

2/28/2009 -- Warm and sunny today. I confirmed today that I'll be working at the Sebring 12 hour race. This will be the 2nd time I have worked here. I'm looking forward to the race.

2/10/2009 --- Greetings from sunny Florida...our team won at golf today, no thanks to me...I played poorly. I tied for 1st place in the bridge game..Yea me!!!  I have mentioned before how much I dislike Nancy Pelosi and how her partisan approach to government really bothers me...Here is a perfect example....Read Article from CNN...

2/7/2009 -- Here is a bit of information from the "Mad Money" show with Jim Cramer on CNBC...he has an interesting take on the banking sector.

Cramer thinks that today's rally was about giving Obama a second chance, after he squandered the goodwill he brought into the White House by allowing Nancy Pelosi to load the stimulus plan with pork and issuing statements filled with fear instead of hope. On Monday, the plans for fixing the banks will be announced, and Cramer hopes that they will give the banks forbearance, which will allow them to stop hoarding money to strengthen their balance sheets and lend money again. Now they are being forced to sell assets to satisfy the bank regulations. This strategy was used in the 80's during the Savings & Load crisis. He also thinks that the banks are in better shape now that Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) are available to buy assets of failed banks. Cramer also hopes that Obama gives up on the current stimulus plan and puts one together that has stimulus to create jobs and help the infrastructure, commodity, and manufacturing companies.

2/2/2009 --- Wow what a Super Bowl! Normally I don't watch it unless the Colts are playing, but since the Cardinals were such an underdog I tuned in to watch them. Most Super Bowls are a bit boring, this was not. Here's a good article on the game. The Cards showed a great deal of heart to come back and lead the game with 2 minutes to go. Steelers win again  I was a bit disappointed in the commercials. I only saw about 3 that I thought were up to Super Bowl standards.

1/22/09 --- This is an article talking about the problem I saw with Obama before the election. He's never stood up to the democrat party powers, now Pelosi and Reid are trying to set an agenda with more regard to their partisan politics than to the good of the country. You many want to read this: CNN.COM -- Balance of Power

1/18/09 --- It's interesting to see the buildup to the inauguration. This may be the biggest one since Andrew Jackson. That is a bit funny since that election and this one have one similar trait. They were the two dirtiest campaigns in history. The silly internet attacks on both Obama and Palin were nothing short of unbelievable. All in All Obama has handled things pretty well so far. Now he will need to deal with Nancy Pelosi. She is the worst Speaker of the House since Newt Gingrich.  Both are much more interested in satisfying their ego and there ideological goals rather than the future of the country.

1/11/09 --- Here's an article from the Houston Chronicle in November 2008. I picked it up from the News of the Weird website (News of the Weird). Fits in well with my number 1 issue facing America, doesn't it? (Bob's Top Issues Facing America)

A Houston Chronicle investigation revealed in November that Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to act against 75 percent of all self-identified illegal aliens convicted of local crimes in the Houston area recently, including immigrants who had committed felonies ranging up to sexual assault of a child and even capital murder. After ICE declined to hold them, that 75 percent were simply released back into the community. Nationally, during that same approximate time period, ICE was deporting twice as many illegal aliens with clean records (clean, except for being undocumented) as those with criminal rap sheets. [Houston Chronicle, 11-16-08]

12/27/08 Warmer today after the cold and ice we've seen since we been here in Indiana. It's amazing how much the kids have grown since we were here just a couple of months ago. Watching them on Christmas was most exciting. When I was a kid it was exciting to get presents, now it's every bit as exciting to see the kids open theirs. Our return flight to Florida is on New Years Day at 7am, which means we will need to be at the airport by 5:30 am. We're probably not going to see midnight this year...LOL. More later.

12/15/08 Hmmm stock market down a bit today. Golf tomorrow. On Wednesday we will be flying home to visit the kids and grandkids for Christmas. I'm real excited about that. Also, I found this article from a USC professor analyzing the 2008 presidential campaign and why Obama won. It's a bit simplistic but pretty good. Here's the link: Campaign Strategy: Why Obama Won and McCain Lost

12/11/08 I was looking this morning for a transcript of the original Frost/Nixon interview but wasn't able to find one. I was wondering how accurate the current Frost/Nixon movie was. If it was pretty accurate I would like to see it. I did find that the author of the stage play said that it was a play not a docudrama. Since the movie is based on the stage play, my guess is that the movie does not really represent the actual interview. Rather it is a fictionalize account of the events surrounding the interviews. I did see that the original interview is available on DVD, while I would rather have an unedited transcript (as those are more accurate) perhaps I can find the DVD of the interview. In trying to find out the facts about this movie, I was reminded of the play "Inherit the Wind" which culminated with the destruction of William Jennings Bryan (in the play Mathew Harrison Brady) in his testimony on the Bible where it shows him a broken man reciting the books of the bible. Most of that play is an outright fabrication. This link shows the actual transcript of the testimony Bryan gave, it's quite interesting: Bryan vs. Darrow in the Scopes Trial

On a side note, it's raining here today so I'm stuck inside.

12/8/08 Here is a good article on the difficulties of coordinating changes during the presidential transition period.

Transition and the Economic Stimulus -- WSJ

 12/6/08   I’ve seen many changes in the last 60+ years. Here are a few of note:

1. The advances in electronics and miniaturization are amazing. If you read the science fiction books of the 50’s and 60’s they would talk about space travel and flying cars but never about PC’s or Cell Phones.
2. When I was a 7-8 years old we could walk to the movie by ourselves and see a movie that our folks didn’t have to worry about us seeing.
3. People are so used to things being safe that they have lost their sense of caution.

Ok, enough of that…It’s a beautiful day here in Sebring FL so I think I’ll take a walk. More rants, opinions, and general commentary later. Go Colts!!!

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