No Deaths or Serious Injuries Yet

The Canadian tour continues. We are at our 4th stop, Hamilton, Ontario, returning home tomorrow. It's nice too see that oil is still headed lower.

I'm not sure why everybody is making such a big deal about Lehman selling its Neuberger stake. Two things: Either they need more capital or they don't. Since they're considering they sale I guess they do. After they exit the asset management biz, the investment bank will have to stand on its own. Is that a big deal? Banking might not be as good a business as it was but if Lehman can't cut it they're going to find out sooner or later regardless of whether they own Neuberger.


I had no cell phone service in Northern Ontario the last week or so and didn't miss it. I only checked my email once. The truth is that I refuse to use dial-up Interweb but it felt like a true vacation being away from it all for a while.



One of the highlights of the week was undoubtedly a heated negotiation between myself, my partner in the golf tourney we played and a couple of local guys over a wager we ended up losing.


Athlete-turned-local politician Al French and noted short stop Jean-Guy Chamaillard, despite a wealth of local knowledge and undeniable natural ability, managed to swindle a few strokes from us for the last day of they tourney. As I mentioned, tyranny triumphed and we lost the bet. I have to question what they lost in the process. I remember when I was in Business School and we had a case study project in a Labor Relations class. The assignment was a mock collective bargaining session where two sides negotiate a contract and the results are graded. My team acutally got a bad grade because we got too much from the other side. Familiar territory.

It's Not the Currency

If you need a reason other than the pathetic level of the U.S. dollar to not go to England, check out the British Open coverage.

59 degrees, windy and rain on July 18.

I'm Glad I Missed This

According to the always gritty and hard-hitting USA Today, on the broadcast of the U.S. Women's Open yesterday, Johnny Miller said the following:

"in noting golfer Paula Creamer's pink ball was in a bunker: "that pink ball looks easier to hit out of a bunker than a white one." …"

I have no idea how a reasonable person would come to that conclusion. I have no idea why I was reading USA today either.

Golf Update

At the halfway point of the Buick Open, Bo Van Pelt leads by two.

Michelle Wie is +10 and will be on her way home shortly at the U.S. Women's Open.

I have 2 questions:

1. Did Tiger have his surgery yet?
2. Why doesn't the USGA defend par in the women's open as vigorously as they do for the men?

Golf, Tiger, and the End of an Era (Maybe)

I like Tiger Woods but I am not his biggest fan. I am a big fan of how he has helped elevate the game of golf at the pro level. I hope his surgery and rehab go well and he comes back next year as good as ever. Better is probably out of the question.

If he doesn't come back, a couple of things come to mind:

1. The movie based on his story and ending with the 2008 U.S. Open will be a doozy


2. It will be years before someone can win a Major without the media speculating about what would have happened if Tiger was there

I'm willing to bet that he'll be back.