A new life; same as the old life?

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to attend the last "Major" on the PGA 2006 calendar, the PGA Championship. I was very excited, as I had previously attended a Nationwide Tour Event and the Walker Cup last year, and had a great time. One of the guys, JB Homes, that was awesome at the Walker Cup last year, turned pro and actually won his first outing on the PGA tour this year too, and so he was a nice segway into the big boys. I set off for the Park and Ride at the Wyndham Hotel, near the Medinah Country Club, aiming to arrive around noon. As I drove down the expressway, it was nice to note that I was driving past the general public parking directions and following signs to the VIP parking. We took the shuttle to the club, where I was told an interesting fact. Apparently they have three courses at the club, or at least they did until they tarmac'd over the 6th fairway of one of them to make the shuttle bus stops. Apparently they normally use a local school for their m...

It is hard to believe the summer is almost at an end again, where has the year gone? In about two weeks, the official end of summer in the US, Labor Day will occur, and everything that is "seasonal" will cease, irrespective of the weather. Pools will close, mini golf will close, some golf courses will close, the outdoor concert season will be over and fall will be official. I have actually started to detect leaves changing and dropping already. My regulars will know that we have been frequent visitors to Ravinia last year and this, with our latest trip taking in the great BB King and a "support" act of Mavis Staples , who apparently comes from a long line of Staples family blues singers, but I honestly had never heard of her. BB King is 80 years old this year, and coincidentally so is Tony Bennett who we will be seeing in September; what a year 1926! I haven't been to a Blues concert in a while, and I certainly had not seen people of this age and magnitude befor...

Much as I respect Bill Gates for all that he has achieved in life, irrespective of what anyone thinks of his products and business model, I admire him. He and his products are largely what pay my way in this world. That doesn't mean that I can't find this little clip from Letterman very funny. Enjoy!

Very few countries can trace roots in time stretching back before history was even recorded. The Indian Sub-Continent shows traces of human activity as far back as 400,000BC according to this website . Archaeologists have found implements in several areas which reinforce this. In it's relatively recent history (since the mid 1700s), India was "ruled" by many countries, most notably the British. In common with the United States and many other countries in the world which were formally part of "The Empire" they wanted to be independent. I have done some research on the subject and it would seem that in India this movement started in 1857, and eventually was officially successful on 15th August, 1947. This site does a good job of summarising the events, leading up to Independence, and this site gives a lot of detail around the initial 1857 mutiny. I wont go into a lot of detail here, as there are many websites that can tell it much better than I, but the momentum...

For the first time yesterday, I witnessed first hand the Cubs losing. I know people who know baseball won't be surprised by that, as they lose quite a lot, but in the 15-20 games I have attended, they have never lost. This game was away from home at Miller Park, so I can still say that I have never seen them lose at home, and maintain my case for the club sponsoring my season ticket, if they want to get to the World Series! They started out badly, and were 6-1 down before long. I missed the start of the game due to traffic and roadworks, and when I heard Prior was pitching for the Cubs, I had a feeling of dread, with his dismal record this year 1-8 and his even worse record of never recording a win at Miller Park in over 3 years! We pulled Prior in the 4th I believe, but the damage was done and it was an uphill struggle, although we did get back to 8-6 by the end of the 8th. We started the 9th well and had base runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out and Jaque Jones at the plate with almost ...

One of the events that we really hoped to get to this year, as I believe it only comes every three years or so, was the Tall Ships Festival. The weekend started well enough, with a round of golf with a work colleague, and a few beers (6 or 7 each). We had a Cubs game planned for the Saturday, but figured, worst case, that we would get home by Midnight, and still make it back into the city the next day. Well the best laid plans, and all that... We got pretty "well oiled" during the game, particularly as the Cubs were playing very well, despite Prior's performance. He actually pitched well to ultimately gain his first win, but they allowed to stay an innings too long, allowing 4 back to back walks before they pulled him. He has a long way to go to recover his previous form. We left in the top of the 9th to beat the crowds to Murphys Bleachers bar, and continued our fun there. Bob had a hankering for heading downtown though and so around 8ish I guess we took cabs down to Na...