Thanks Thoughts

Had a very nice midwestern Thanksgiving. Alison's parents came to town and joined us for the Holiday. Alison and her Mom cooked a great dinner.


Although the day's football games weren't particularly exciting, it was great to kick back, and have something to watch [while taking a nap].


Although I had a to work on Friday, the crisis spurred by Dubai kept the day from being completely uninteresting. One quick word on Dubai: I'd say it's a lagging indicator rather than an leading one. Bad debt happens.


On Saturday, we cut down our Christmas tree. We have high living room ceilings, so we were able to grab a tall tree this year. I'd cuff our new tree at 9 feet. It may still be November, but we put the tree up right away.

Sunday I got a chance to do some mountain biking (well, out here I guess its really plains biking). We have a trail here that goes about 50 miles due West. I biked about 8 miles West before heading back due to uncoming darkness. It was a fun, true rural run.

The Luce Line is a former railroad that snakes it way through farms and lakes. Even though I didn't make it particularly far, it was a very interesting course. There were plenty of horses, cows, sheep, and even llamas. I look forward to taking the trail up past the point where I stopped; however, it's unlikely to happen until Spring.

Finally, as November gets wrapped up, I lament the Patriots loss. I said going into this game that the Saints are very good. They proved it tonight. That said, the Patriots looked as much out-of-sync as the Saints looked in-sync. A few plays go the Patriots way and this is a completely different game. Brady's first pick stands out. That in its own right is probably a 10-point swing. They need to get it together on the road. Sure, they can beat up bad teams at home, but I'd like to see one good road win.