Google Talk

So Google released it's much anticipated IM service today, dubbed Google Talk. I've been using it this morning and so far, I have to say I like it. As one would expect of Google, it's small, simple and bloatless. It does what you want it to do and seems to do it well.

Also, and this is my favorite part, it uses the open source Jabber protocol, which means you don't have to use the Google Talk client at all, you can use other clients out there that support Jabber. That's always been my beef with IM services... being tied to a certain client. It's like having to use a GE phone to talk to someone on another GE phone. Of course, you do have to have a Gmail account, but who doesn't have one of those nowadays?

Validation

I've often wondered, and unfortunately I'll never know for sure, if winning one's second major was more difficult than the first. Phil Mickelson won his second today, ridding himself of the title "Best Player Lucky Enough To Win Only One Major".

Validation is the word that comes to my mind. Proof that you're as good as everyone thinks you are and that you can get it done at crunch time. The thing is, and what's great about the game of golf, I can kind of know how it feels too, by dropping a 20 footer on the 18th hole on a Sunday afternoon at my local club tournament. Golf doesn't know that I'm not a pro playing for millions of dollars, and neither does my heart.

Props to Phil. If I'd known predicting Tiger to win would produce these results, I'd have started doing it a long time ago.

What Is It With Me?

Ok, so I guess I'm a jinx or something. No sooner do I predict Tiger to win the PGA handily, and he decides to barely make the cut. Not that he can't come back and win the thing, but something is telling me that this golf course is going to be hard for anyone to make up a lot of ground... especially for someone like Tiger, who likes to eat par 5's for lunch. They're basically playing several par 5's on this course, but only two of them have that designation on the score card.

It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend. I think Tiger can still pull it together and have a respectable showing, but unless the entire rest-of-the-field collapses, he's going to have a big crowd to push through in order to get the job done.

(There, maybe that will lift the curse...)

Who Will Get 2nd?

With the way he's been playing in the majors this season, as far as I'm concerned, it's a foregone concusion that Tiger will take the PGA this week. So I'm wondering who will finish 2nd? Or, if you want, who has the best chance at the upset?

We all know if Vijay can make a putt, he's probably got the best chance of the lot, and with Retief's win yesterday, he's probably gained a little confidence back. As for a wildcard, I've not been following golf very much lately, so I would have no idea... maybe Roy McAvoy?

This One Deserves A Pic

Can't believe I missed this one. Apparently June 27th was Bugs Bunny's birthday. Bugs is what Saturday mornings were all about when I was growing up, not Saved By The Bell or Power Puff Girls or whatever the heck the cool kids are watching nowadays. Of course, now all of the good parts of the Looney Toons cartoons have been edited out because someone out there thinks that kids aren't smart enough to realize that if you hit somebody over the head with an anvil in real life that it will hurt them, but I guess it's ok for them to think that you can fly around like the freaking Power Rangers or you can have battles with other people using little animals that you carry around in your pocket or...

Dreams Are Weird

So I had this dream last night. It started our like your normal, run of the mill end of the world dream. There was this big war going on and my family and I were running around scared to death, trying to figure out what we could do to survive armageddon. We tried hiding underground, bit that didn't work. Then for some reason, we tried hiding in a cave that was built into the side of a cliff. That didn't work either.

So we decided to try to catch a ride on this spaceship that we learned was leaving Earth, headed to find another suitable planet for the human race. For some reason, none of us were surprised to learn that we had a spaceship worthy of hopping from planet to planet.

Anyway, here's the really weird part. Once we found a planet (which we gave a really cool name, but I can't remember it at the moment), I was chilling out on the surface, checking out the purple grass, talking to Luke Skywalker, when I learned that... get ready for this.. Jack Nicklaus is Luke Skywalker's father.

Now, before all the Golden Bear fans out there go off on me, I'm not saying that Jack was Darth Vader. To the contrary. Luke wasn't even a Jedi Knight. He was a golfer, and a damn good one. The next big thing even. Jack was busy designing courses for our new planet (which had green grass, strangely), while his son Luke was dominating the interstellar PGA.

I played golf in unseasonably hot weather yesterday. I think it got to me more than I thought it did.

Nerd Post Of The Day

Personally, I thought Enterprise was a great show, but apparently most of the world didn't agree with me. Over on TrekWeb they're reporting that a "panel of experts" (does that sound a little weird to anyone but me?) stated that the reason Enterprise didn't cut it was because it wasn't as gritty as the new Battlestar Galactica.

While I agree that the new Treks (not just Enterprise) had strayed from the original premise of the morality play and had turned into more sci-fi than story, I don't agree with that being the reason it failed. I'm by no means a Star Trek "expert", but my opinion on why Enterprise failed is a lot simpler: Everyone was just tired of the whole Star Trek universe by the time Enterprise came along.

Rant over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Disposable PC?

I just came across this article about a guy who threw away his PC rather than have to continue to deal with the spyware that was getting on it. I know I have previously let my frustrations be known on the spyware issue, but this is a little extreme. It's still damn funny, though.

I can't help but wonder how many people have done this that we've not heard about. I would imagine folks who aren't aware of spyware and what it can do to your system have been known to chuck their PC's and buy new ones, unaware that unless they take measures to prevent it, the new PC will end up in the same shape sooner or later.

Tiger vs. Jack

There's a poll on the About Golf forums right now posing the question, will Tiger Woods break Jack Nicklaus' record for most major championships? My vote is yes.

In my lifetime, I have never seen anyone as tough as Tiger on the golf course. When Tiger has a lead, you might as well wrap it up, because if there's one thing Tiger Woods knows how to do, it's play within himself. He just doesn't make mistakes. He knows everyone else has to come and get him, and as long as he does what he knows he can do, he's going to be tough to catch. There aren't many tour pros out there who have the same kind of discipline. Those who do have probably learned it from a sports psycologist. For Tiger, it comes naturally.

Tiger also has one more advantage over Jack. He has a goal to shoot for. If Jack had had someone to chase who had 25 major wins, he might have gotten 26.

Beggars Can't Be Choosers

I remember several years back, back when Phil Mickelson was still the Best Player Yet To Win A Major, I asked a friend if he would rather have that title with, say 20 wins, or would he rather have the title of Best Player ONLY To Win A Major. He chose the latter.

I'm not sure I agree. I guess I wouldn't refuse either one, but given the choice, I think I'd go with the 20 wins. I mean, in 30 years, who thinks Ben Curtis will be remembered any better than Sergio Garcia if Ben doesn't get another win and Sergio never gets his Major?

I'm pretty sure Ben is a frequent visitor to this blog, so I hope he doesn't get mad about this post. I don't mean anything by it. He just came to mind because of the British Open being played this week. I personally hope Ben gets his 20 wins to go along with his British Open title.

Oh, and I hope Sergio gets his Major title, too.

Ask & You Shall Receive

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how I had gotten into listening to podcasts and that I wanted to find a good golf-related podcast to listen to while on the course. Enter The Golf Show, an Austrailian-based podcast that covers just about everything you can think of in the world of golf.

They've had only 4 shows so far, and I'm currently on episode 3. In the three, I have listened to topics such as tour news (from ALL world tours), tournament reviews and previews, course reviews and the ins and outs of course photography. Pretty much everything you could ask for.

It's definitely worth checking out.

Death Of A Floppy

When exactly did the floppy die? Is it even really dead yet? We still use Sony Mavica cameras where I work. It's only a matter of time, though. I've heard rumblings of our Sonys getting replaced sooner than later. For my part, personally, the floppy is gone. I don't even have a floppy drive in my home PC, and haven't had a reason for one.

I'd say, for me anyway, the final demise of the floppy came with the popularity and affordability of USB flash drives. Recordable CD's put up a good fight, but even now they're still not as convenient as floppies for everyday use. But USB drives are just as convenient, even moreso when you consider the amount of storage available.

So here's to the floppy disk. You have been a good friend. I will remember you fondly.

Ah, The Good Old Days

Here's a very interesting article I found via the Sand Trap. Apparently some dude pitted the modern Pro-V against some balls that were (supposedly) manufactured to 1985 specs in a 9 hole match. Needless to say, the Pro-V dusted the '85 ball, with (in some cases) 100 yard differences off the tees and 2 to 3 club differences on approach shots. That's pretty crazy if you think about it. Everyone knows that the modern golf ball goes farther than balls from 20 years ago, but I never really thought that there was that much of a difference. Now I understand the position that distance is out of control and that the golf ball is the easiest way to control it, but I also don't want to have to tee off with a featherie the next time I'm at my home course.

Anyway, I won't go too much into it here, because the Sand Trap and Guardian Unlimited deserve a few hits too, but for anyone out there with any interest at all in the distance debate, this article is a must read.

Links Courses Defined

Nice article at About.com on what makes a true links course.

Want Myself A Mac Mini

Well, actually I'd like to have a "big time" Mac, a "grown up" Mac, or whatever it should be called. The problem is, I can't afford one. But the Mac Mini is something I think I could swing, as long as my credit card company agreed with me.

I've been shopping for one on eBay for about 3 weeks now, but unfortunately I'm having trouble finding someone who's willing to agree with me on what I want to pay.

Why do I want a Mac? Heck, I don't know. Why do I want anything that I want? No reason, really. I just want it. I've been hearing about how great they are for a while now, and I guess I'd just like to find out for myself. Also, as mentioned earlier, I'm sick and tired of spyware, viruses and the like.

Trouble is, I don't know anything about Macs. I don't know what to look for in regards to processor speed, RAM and those types of things. As with Windows-based PC's, I assume bigger is better, but other than that, I'm clueless. I looked at the low-end Mac Mini at Best Buy the other day, and it felt kind of slow to me. I went back a few days later and they had the 1.42 Ghz model out and it seemed a lot better. Was it $100 better though? I don't know.

Anyway, if anyone out there has any knowledge they'd like to share, feel free.

First Name Basis

It's something to be said, to be a golfer and be on a first name basis with millions of fans. Arnie, Tiger, Freddie, Phil, Vijay, Annika... but possibly the greatest first name ever, Jack, will be playing in his last British Open this week, not to mention his final Major.

Golf has changed over the years. Back in Jack's day, you played and you played a lot. You played like Vijay because you had to if you wanted to make a living as a touring pro. Jack was probably the first to totally gear his game for the Majors. But heck, he was Jack Nicklaus, it was understandable. Nowadays, with millions in prize money and endorsements, it seems even if you've just won a tournament or two, you're expected to turn yourself into a Major golfer. You gear your game to try to peak at the right times of the year. The smaller events don't matter anymore. Sure, you play in some of the smaller tournaments, but only the "big" small ones. I think it hurts the game a little. But then again, if I had the talent, I might do the same thing.

I also think that it takes away from the ability to get to know some of these younger players on a first name basis. Sure, some of them are known... Phil and Vijay as I mentioned earlier, and Ernie and Sergio for sure. For the most part though, everyone seems to be known by their logos, and not their games OR their names.

Back Across The Pond For A Week

So here we go; The British Open, the Open Championship. I've previously let my opinion be known on that subject, but whatever you want to call it, the third Major of the year is upon us.

I'll have to be honest in saying that this one has kind of sneaked up on me. I hadn't really remembered that the British was this week until my Dad mentioned it to me yesterday. I've not been following, or playing golf that much the past couple of weeks, for whatever reason.

What's my prediction, you ask? I'm not sure. It's hard to call this year. From what I understand, St. Andrews is more of a long ballers' course, at least moreso than some of the others in the rotation. It seems to be a little more open, which I guess means the big hitters can fly it all over Creation and still manage to get out of the hole alive. Witness John Daly, and Tiger Woods. In the same vein, everyone who reads this blog knows I'm a big fan of "The Mick", so as far as who I'll be rooting for, Phil tops the list.

Something in my gut is telling me that this time a European is going to walk away with the Claret Jug. The Europeans are all just playing too well and are too comfortable with the style to not make some kind of an impact. Padraig? ..Maybe. Sergio? ..Possible, but I don't see it. Darren Clarke? ..Hey, I think that's it! That's who I'm going to go with. I'm picking Darren Clarke to win the Open, the British Open.

Birdies & Bogies

Birdie Kim wins the Open, Bogey Jim loses at Westchester. I jest, of course, but it is funny that a player who has yet to make much of a splash on the LPGA Tour wins with a miracle birdie on the final hole, while a player who is known for his steady play loses with two bogies coming down the stretch.

Props to Birdie Kim.

Incredi-Ball

But... I can do this without having to buy any special equipment.

Moore Or Less?

I just read a great article on The Sand Trap about Ryan Moore and his turning professional this week. The question posed is whether Moore will go the way of past U.S. Amateur greats like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, or will his career fizzle like David Gossett and Matt Kuchar.

Back in the early 90's I was a huge NBA fan, and came to the conclusion back then that, as it relates to the NBA draft, any of the top 10 picks could end up being the next Michael Jordan. It didn't really matter whether you were the 1st pick or the 10th pick, as long as the desire was there to improve yourself and make it to the upper echelon of the league.

I think the same could be said for the PGA Tour. Some of these guys coming out are content with just making a living on tour, but if you want to work hard and really put yourself in contention from week to week, there is room there for you to do so. So I don't think the question is whether or not Ryan Moore has the talent to get there, it's whether or not he has the desire to be in the thick of things come Sunday afternoon. For that, we'll have to wait and see.