TIGER AND DEADWOOD

Hey folk, what's up?
It's been a few days, my bad. I'm back with the weekend report and some observations. I hope everyone had a great weekend. The rain caused a little trouble with the big bathroom project, as the roof was not yet on. More on that later.

TIGER AND THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Plain and simple, once Tiger Woods got a piece of the lead on Saturday, this tournament was over. They guy is now 12 for 12 in Major tourneys when he has the lead going into Sunday. He's physically more able and mentally intimidating. No one has more focus, and when it comes down to one-on-one, his very presence puts his opponents at a disadvantage. It got boring watching it, and I turned it off because there wasn't anyone posing a threat. One of these days he'll give up a lead on the last day. Did you know that he's never come from behind on the last day to win a Major? One day that will happen, too. Wasn't it a year ago? And wasn't it just a few months ago that all the media "experts" were saying that he's not the same guy, he's just not as good, his marriage will take away his competitive fire? You're all quiet about that now, aren't you? Got nothing to say on that subject, huh?

WHO'S THE MAN? I THINK WE ALL KNOW THE ANSWER.

DEADWOOD AND ENTOURAGE
Is anyone out there keeping up with HBO's Deadwood or Entourage? Well, I am, and let me tell you, this week's episode of Deadwood was one of, if not the best ever. Intrigue aplenty, sadness, comedy, crack dialogue, it had it all. It's a shame that there is only one episode left to the Series. I've really enjoyed this season and all that happened. Plus, we got to see Trixie's breasts as she shot Hearst in the shoulder. The actress who plays Trixie, Paula Malcolmsen, is a natural beauty and she plays her character really well.

Entourage has been very interesting and humorous this season, as well. This week, Vince Chase lost the chance to play Joey Ramone in a filmography of the Ramones when his agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), screwed over the old guy who owned the rights to the script, and the guy got pissed and sold the project to a studio that will not work with Vince Chase. A bunch of other stuff went on, also, and the episode was very good. I only started watching Entourage this year, and have really enjoyed it. If you haven't had a chance to catch this show yet, you definitely should try. If you don't have HBO, you can rent the first couple of seasons on video. I think it's worth it.

THE RAIN IN SPAIN DOESN'T ALWAYS STAY ON THE PLAIN
At least that's true in Colonie. We weren't supposed to get any rain overnight on Friday, but we did. And with only a light tarp on the framed bathroom to protect from dew, but not from rain, we ended up waking up on Saturday with a wet downstairs bathroom floor, when the rain leaked throught the upstairs project. No problem, we handled that. So the contractor and I spent 3 hours wrapping up the project with heavy plastic and wood on Saturday morning, because Saturday night and Sunday morning it was supposed to rain heavy. All was okay when we left the house for Mrs. Sansone's 40th B.D. party at 6:30. But the rain that fell while we were gone, and leaked a bit throught the tarp and then leaked through the floor into the downstairs bathroom. No problem. It was minor and I put a bucket under the leak. Unfortunately, around 4:00 a.m. the rain came down in a torrent of lightning and thunder, teeming like it was Florida. I woke up to the sound of alot of dripping and when I went into the project area to check it out, found that the wood planks we had place on top as a makeshift roof was bowing like a beer-belly from the weight of the rain that had accumulated on top of the heavy plastic, and that there was noe a small piss-hole leaking a steady stream of water.

I got the bright idea to try and push the wood planks up to dump the water over the side of the framing. Picture a person stepping under a bucket which was placed on top of an ajar door and having water dumped all over him. That's what happened to me. This, of course, set lovely Patty to giggling as she tried to help me. I then decided to try bracing the wood up with a long 2X4 board. And got dumped on again, only to have lovely Patty fall on the floor laughing at my predicament. Good thing we're already married.

Anyway, I dealt with that emergency, got back to sleep for a few hours and then, with help from the contractor, got everything secured better and the big pocket of water taken care of later. Work has resumed this a.m. and we should be okay for the rest of the week. Oh, the joys of homeownership and building projects. Does anything ever go smoothly? Or is it just my bad luck? I never hear of anyone else having these problems.

EPILOGUE
Gas prices are much too high, we're being gouged and screwed by the oil companies. Bush sucks out loud. Too many immigrants, legal and otherwise. Too much money to foreigners and to help foreign countries and not enough for Americans who pay taxes. Low-interest loans for Arabs who buy gas stations, but an American citizen can't get a business loan for under 12%, and may not even get approved (not talking about myself, by the way). Inept, uncaring management, locally, at Amtrak Rensselaer, and no contract for labor in 6 1/2 years. Will it end before someone snaps and commits a violent act domestically? I hope so, but don't see avoiding it.

Oh well, it's summer. The weather's been great, Saratoga is in full swing, the Mets are still in First place, and NFL training camps have begun. Soon the fantasy draft will take place and baseball playoffs will start. It's not all bad. Time to learn that LEN IS RIGHT.

Peace to my people on Earth.
I am,
Len Tollerton