I've got the golf bug again. I had the pleasure of playing in a charity golf tournament at work last week at Lake of Isles, and hit the ball fairly well. It was a best ball format, so I don't really know how I would have scored (just as well, since that place is very tough). As a group we were one over par, way behind the first place team (-8). I still managed to come away a winner though; I bought a few raffle tickets for $20 and I actually won a Cobra Sydney putter. I was shocked because I never win that type of thing - I simply considered my entry a donation to Habitat for Humanity. This past weekend I was eager to try out my new club, so Adam and I went out and played nine holes at Harrisville Golf Course in Woodstock. For a change I was driving the ball very well , giving myself chances for par on almost every hole, only to be foiled by my wedge and the brand new putter. I was still on track for a good round when my short game finally came good and I made two very long putts for birdie on the final two holes. I don't think I've ever had two birdies in the same round, never mind back to back. I ended up with a personal best for that course, so I'm itching to go out again and see if my streak will continue. My brothers and I haven't yet played out annual "Four Bros Golf" event, so I'll be pushing them to get out there soon.

I've always been a tennis fan. I can remember getting up early to watch the Wimbledon or French Open finals on Sunday mornings, and then becoming "fallout" as I was then inspired to pick up a racquet and play. My oldest brother Adam was kind enough to arrange for me to get tennis lessons when I was 12 or so, and ever since I've been a decent player. Besides struggling to be consistent with my backhand, I've always found that one of the hardest parts of playing tennis was calling whether shots were in or not. Sometimes it's simply hard to tell, so in the interest of fairness I only call it out if I'm sure it is - if I just "think "it is I let the play continue. Adam does the same when we play, so I'm not at a disadvantage (at least not in that way - he usually wins so I'm losing out somewhere). If you've watched tennis on television lately, you must have noticed the HP Hawkeye thing they use now for "instant replay" that allows the players to challenge the call made by the linesperson. I think it's hilarious. After a challenge, everyone looks to the ends of the court, where giants screens show the replay. The suspense builds, and then onto the display comes an animation that shows the ball landing in relation to the line. Sometimes the call is reversed and sometimes it is confirmed, but every time the players and crowd seem satisfied that justice has been done. Somehow I think some of the players I grew up watching wouldn't have been quite so accepting of the computer generated verdict. I can picture Lendl or Connors ranting on and on about it to the umpire, or McEnroe saying something like... "You gotta be f***ing kidding me! I'm gonna lose this game because of a f***ing cartoon!"

I remember the first time I saw the words "Harry Potter". I was reading the USA Today's Life section (way back in 1997) and the cover story was about a book by an unknown author that had some potential to be a breakout hit. Quite an understatement, it turns out. The books have done something that I thought was impossible - it turned a generation of today's youth into readers. Think about that - today's kids have so many entertainment options and such short attention spans, but so many of them eagerly waited in line to read a 700 page book this month. J.K. Rowling should win the Nobel prize for that miraculous feat. But she won't. I guess she'll have to settle for billions of dollars instead. Without giving anything away, I will say that I enjoyed the final book. The series lost a bit of its "magic" over time for me; that sense of wonder from the first book could not be maintained. But I never stopped caring about the characters, and was never bored. They are the kind of books where you can't wait to find out what's going to happen, but you slow down because you don't want it to end. The movies are excellent as well, and unlike the books seem to get better each time. I have no idea how they will translate this latest book into a 2-hour movie, but they better figure it out fast because those kid actors are growing up awfully fast.