Yes we did some golfing at Lakeview today. Though we didn't have 45 degrees at noon, we did have lots of sun and fast melting snow. By three o'clock, not two but seven of the greens were free of the white stuff, gone for now. The 'over 40 degree boys' (pictured) were down from up north a piece; Curt and Kevin Johnson (pictured) came out and limbered up; Caleb and Montana, too. I went out and tried to make solid contact and not dip into the frozen tundra of Martin County too often. Expect much softer ground tomorrow with the continued thaw; probably be a whole bunch more muddy as well. Give a little, take a little.
Diane took advantage of the nice weather and headed down to Jasper to see if there were any shoppers out and about. Must not have been too many as she was still smiling when she got back home a little after I did.
Did you notice that Tiger did win out at
Torrey Pines? The surprise was not that he won but rather that they were able to play with the rains indeed falling into the ocean and maybe elsewhere in sunny California. Beautiful at Torrey Pines though at the end looked like the weather was moving in. Tiger tied Arnie in career wins at 62. Pretty impressive.
Change of pace here: Noticed this at
dkos while at the golf course after my walk but before I went out and did some golfing:
The Story of Stuff. Since it was a video, I didn't even attempt to watch it with the dial up connection at the club house. However, did download it here at home and watched it. A twenty minute lesson on stuff, where it comes from, where it goes, who has it, who wants it, what we should do with it, what place it has in our continued well being. Did you know in our consumer-throw away society how much of the stuff we consume is still around in six months? If you guessed about one percent, you would be on the money. Wow. Do you remember what President Bush told us to do right after 9/11? The lady in the Stuff video says he told us to go shopping. I remember he told us to get on with the things we normally did; guess for many that is shopping. Not a shopper man myself, nor is Diane a shopper lady (yes, I know what it says up above about her going down to Jasper today...). However, I did see us in the video when she talked about 'perceived obsolescence', also known as fashion or keeping up with the Jones: as one of her examples, she uses an imaginary co worker who has all the latest including a flat screen monitor and how she looked very spiffy with all her high tech and space age stuff having the latest design. She, on the other hand, had the old style monitor, you know, the big and fat and clunky thing that has been part of her life for maybe three years and was wearing last year's shoes. Very unfashionable indeed.
But I go on and on. Let me summarize by saying that this is not anything new - it's a message Diane and I heard back in the 60's and '70's and to a degree heeded: we are a consumer society; we are wasteful; we could do better by buying less and making more, by living a more simple and sustainable life. Of course, things have worsened and sped up in the forty some years since then: resources are disappearing at a more rapid pace, global warming is changing the environment at a more rapid pace, the world is shrinking at a more rapid pace. Jeesh, I think we need a time out. In any case, go check
it out. It's an easy watch and listen reminder of who we are and what we are doing and what we maybe should do. I downloaded it first since I can't stand the continual buffering that takes place way too many times during the twenty minutes. (And that means I have it on cd for any of you who still have dial up and want to see it without downloading 54mb of video.)
Here's something very concrete you can do to reduce your own consuming: come out and play some golf with us tomorrow, take in the fresh air and move your body around. Refresh yourself. Sounds like a winner to me. I'll be there at that green place just north of town.
