TOUR Championship in Atlanta

The Playoff finale for the FedExCup! It's a long week of assignments, but there are only 30 guys left in the field, so the golf is fairly easy to cover. Oh yeah, then we had a playoff!

Tuesday night was the Payne Stewart award ceremony. The ballroom looked great, and they even had "live statues" on display. It was funny to see peoples' reaction when they realized the bronze guys were alive!

Davis Love III was the 2008 recipient. A class guy all-around and deserving of the honor.

Several players took part in a panel discussion on Wednesday before the VIP outing. There was just a bit of ribbing going on.

A view of the clubhouse.

On Thursday morning Mr. Errie Ball hit the ceremonial tee shot. At 96 years old, he is the only surviving golfer who played in the inaugural Masters Tournament in 1934.

He striped it right down the middle of the fairway!The FedExCup and tournament trophy were displayed on the first tee.

Caryn gets me in "stealth mode" as Casey Jones watches with mild amusement.

Two can play that game. Right back atcha!

Anthony Kim tones down his belt buckle from the red, white & blue number he wore at the Ryder Cup.

Camilo Villegas obliges me with a great "spiderman pose" with a clean background. It was good karma, he went on to win the tournament.

The club on top of the trophy has never stayed in place. The commissioner tries unsuccessfully to re-install it!

Camilo won the tournament, but Vijay locked up the FedExCup by just showing up and playing all four rounds. If Villegas had not missed the cut at Barclays, he could have been holding both pieces of hardware!

Camping trip to Ginnie Springs!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've been camping! 6 years at least.

Ramsey called me on Friday and said a group was heading down to Ginnie Springs (Near Gainesville) for the weekend and asked if we wanted to go. The timing was perfect since we only had a few chores to do around the house.
Summer is terrible for camping in FL because of the heat, but it was beginning to cool off and we had the 72-degree water of the springs nearby too help us stay cool. I climbed into the attic to dig out the camping gear and make sure it hadn't disintegrated! I pulled out the tent in the living room to make sure i remembered how to put it together.

Bailey was amused by my expletive-ridden battle with the tent!The "compound"Room with a view!It's hard to be stressed out here!
Down the river we go!Ramsey digs in to the "lifeboat"And then dives in for a swim.Flamethrowers... The new barbeque starter!The spring at night... Peaceful and pretty.Morning portrait... Need coffee!Beth in full "chill".

New patio!

We've been planning to install a new paver patio in the back since we finished renovating the porch into a bonus room. All we had was a small concrete slab which was too small for anything but a grill and a couple of chairs.

Before...
The sand is delivered...
It looked like the house was on fire when they were cutting the pavers!
A small crew cranked it out.They finished it in one day!"After photos" to follow. The spa install is next!

We found this little guy in the window.Frog art!

Dial-9 debut at Wild Wing Cafe.

After a good bit of lobbying and word-of-mouth, we finally got our first show booked at the new Wild Wing Cafe on the Southside. It's a great new venue with a big stage and in-house PA & lights. It's a great gig for me since all I need to do is bring my drums!
We had a good show and were asked back before we finished the evening. Looks like we'll be playing there pretty regularly in the future.

Shannon gets some face time on camera.
And he doesn't drink on stage... No really, he doesn't!
Once Evan got his guitar rig working, we had a great show!

Pebble Beach

Covering the First Tee Open at Pebble beach... Summertime in Monterey is supposed to be beautiful. It looked good when I arrived, then the fog moved in.

Then it got so thick, play was suspended for the day.Saturday, it began to clear and you could see the beauty of the Monterey peninsula.Looking down the 10th hole to CarmelHoliday weekend at the beach

A local enjoys the rough.

Speaking of wildlife... Bill Murray entertains the crowd.

Even the volunteers are characters here!

West coast ride

I flew straight to CA from NJ and spent a couple of days with my brother Don and his family. He recently bought a BMW 1200RT and has been having a great time with it. I rented a Harley (Road King for those who care about the model details) for a day and we went for a great ride. My niece Brenna rode with me and did a fantastic job even though it was her first time on a motorcycle. Maybe we passed the motorcycle bug to the next generation of Condon!

We rode from Berkeley up to Petaluma (Wrong turn somewhere!), and back across to Point Reyes and the lighthouse. From there we crossed Mt Tam via a VERY twisty pass and headed for home. It was hard to return the bike knowing I was headed to Monterey in a rental car for the week!

Maggie is very interested in Brenna's breakfast
Brenna and Don
Me and Brenna (Hey J.S., does that helmet look familiar?)On the way to Point Reyes.Can we import some of these roads to FL?That's a happy guy!The path to the lighthouse was closed... Perhaps it was a good thing!Don enjoys the view.
I saw this wreck on the way up and decided we had to stop and get some pics on the way home.I could have spent a while here!This one's for you Caryn!Don getting impatient to get back on the road .Brenna and I check out the days photos.