Fall Is Fell ...

Sure can tell there's a chill in the air when I've been out recently ... particularly when riding the bicycle. Guess it's only a week or so until autumn officially starts, so that makes sense. Well, next Saturday I'll be in Chicago taking in a Cubs game with my oldest son ... and he bought the tickets! It's great. And they won again today (in the first game) although I think they have another game tonight.

So how 'bout them Hawks? Can't say today's game surprised me too much as they haven't really had a good test yet ... plus the Iowa State thing always seems to add something. Anyway, I didn't see much of the game as I was watching Tiger in the third round of the Tour Championship where he finished setting a 54 hole PGA tournament record of 191 on rounds of 64-63-64. I figure Tiger's more reliable than the Hawks (or the Cubs) at winning and I couldn't see the Hawks game here at home anyway (the part I did see was out at Pei's). Tiger's just phenomenal and I recommend watching him play in the final round tomorrow (televised on NBC) if you are at all interested in golf.

Got a bid on replacing my shingles with an aluminum roof. It's a pretty hefty cost but it's a one-time thing and it actually does add some value to the house, should I decide to sell it before the life of the roof is up (50 year full warranty). Also, I get a 10% reduction on my homeowner's insurance because it's resistant to hail damage and it's fireproof. Of course, the fact that it qualifies for a $500 tax credit as an energy deduction (if completed by 12/31/07) is also very positive. I'll decide soon but I do plan on removing the old shingles to examine the roof for any possible leakage/damage to the plywood before the new roof is installed. I only mention this because it's an option to install the metal roof right over the old shingles ... but I guess I just don't like that idea.

Ryan called this evening and I talked to him for about 1/2 hour. Interesting enough, another researcher out there (at NC State) was using Scott's master's thesis as a reference for some of the work he was doing on his thesis. Somehow this came out with Ryan and he said he'd really like to talk to Scott about some of the mechanical aspects of his paper (Scott's Master's is in Mechanical Engineering). So Ryan obliged by giving him Scott's email address. Pretty small world, eh? But pretty cool that Scott will now be a reference in someone else's thesis.

Dancing at Walford was pretty fun last night but I only stayed there an hour and then went back to the Red Lion to have a drink and sing a few songs. Turns out there was some available dancing there as well, so it was an extra fun evening.

Well, I better get to a bit of practice on some songs before I go out tonight as I'm not sure at all what I want to sing. The latest I've been working on are "How's The World Treating You" and "When I Could Come Home To You" but they're both fairly sad one's and I need to have a few nice pick-me-up or classic standards/oldies in hand to brighten things up ... and put a smile on at least one person's face in the crowd.

Later ...