Columbus Public Enemies Premier Party.

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May showers bring . . . . . hail. So last night was the first night in my new golf league and the first time in 8 years that I was calm and content on opening day. I was not in charge. My new goal in life is to not be in charge of anything. I was finding I did not have a lot of time for my own goals and hobbies. Not working REAL good so far but it's a non-work in progress.

With that said, I've been working on getting a Columbus Premier Party for Public Enemies (how did I get to be the point man on this anyway) and had a meeting with Marquis theater officials. They are willing to work with us so we have activity.

I'm not sure of the direction we're going with this though. The main concern is that we will need to fill 240 seats at $9 a pop which is $2,160 up front cost. We CAN go as small as 150 people but then East Gate is eating some money for us and I don’t like that so the goal is 240 (or 4.5% of the population of Columbus).

I'll have more on this as it takes shape. I'm hoping to have the big spot lights in front of the theater and Picture Cars, we will have security. Stay tuned.

Back to golf.

We tee off and on the 3rd hole started to hear a low distant rumble of thunder in the distance. Adubya whipped out his iPhone and saw a line of green and red storms heading our way on his radar (I was jealous but did not show it). We all sort of cheered as we were sucking and would, sooner or later be rained out. The question was, where would we be and when when would it hit.

After 4 putting Hole #3 which is always a joy for me we were heading west and looking right at the dark clouds and now there was no question about "IF" we were going to get it.

#4 was when I found my swing (or what or call a swing) and my circle of chaos became smaller as I almost pared a 500 yard hole and my confidence was back. The electricity in the air must have been helping.

#5 the Island green was an easy 3 and I almost a birdied it. Lightning? Bring it on baby. Rumble rumble. We could see the muskrats swimming to safer places.

It was about this time when I was seriously thinking of packing it in but we were 386 yards away from relative safety.

All four of us drove the fairway as lightning flashes to the north. Our second shots all land near the green FLASH RUMBLE. I'm in the trap and am thinking that the traps would be a safe place to bury ourselves in case of a tornado. I hit my sand shot which I THINK I sculled 80 yards across the green and I'm looking in the distance for my ball when it plops next to the hole and runs to the other side of the green.

FLASH FLASH

We all putt out very fast and the cart girl drives up and is telling us we better take cover. NOW! WELL YEA!!

We head to the shelter with bolts of lightning nearing us. Then comes the conflicting part of the story. Everybody puts there clubs together and stands next to them in the shelter. I BELIEVE this is the WORST thing to do. I feel like this is some Ben Franklin experiment. Put all the metal in one spot and stand next to it, the thin wooden roof will protect us from 5 BILLION volts of electricity.

Actually if you remember in 2007 a guy was killed in Madison when horizontal lightning hit his clubs and spared his shelter - the WORST thing you can do is stand next to your clubs. This is what was left of his cart and clubs. He fared worse.

So we're waiting to see if we are going live and it starts to rain and 5 seconds later it's hailing.

Golf is over for the day. I was 11 strokes over par the 1st 3 holes and 3 over the second 3 holes. So I ended on an up note and can live to talk about it.
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The GOOD news is that the grass in my yard seems to have survived the winter and is growing at a record speed (it seems). Having tomorrow off I guess I'll be doing some mowing. Gardens are growing including a nice crop of Stinging Nettle that I found without knowing it.

Lots of tulips around and I took this photo and faux framed it but think I will ACTUALLY frame it.

Today in history - we are a day away from VE day which was Victory in Europe Day. In 1945 Germany signed unconditional surrender ending World War II today. It take's effect tomorrow 64 years ago.

No Smoking - as I promised - Wisconsin will become a no smoking state July 5th 2010. Dive bars will be a little less divey in Columbus and expect to see cigarette butts EVERYWHERE on the sidewalks and streets as pissed off smokers will take out there anger by littering and making the world ugly (as was seen in Madison in front of all bars).

You will hear complaints from bar owners who will say they are losing business (which they will by about 11%) but studies have proven that the bans are a good thing for peoples health.

In the first 18 months after Pueblo, Colorado enacted a 2003 smoking ban, hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped by 27% while admissions in neighboring towns without smoking bans showed no change. A similar study in Helena, Montana found a 40% reduction in heart attacks following the imposition of a smoking ban.

Researchers at the University of Dundee found significant improvements in bar workers' lung function and inflammatory markers attributed to a smoking ban.

A comprehensive smoking ban in New York was found to have prevented 3,813 hospital admissions for heart attacks in 2004, and to have saved $56 million in health-care costs for the year.

HOWEVER - liqueur sales WILL drop about 11%. There is no doubt about that. So the bar owners do have a beef but . . . . . I'm sure making opium dens illegal also hurt business and it's not like this is coming as a surprise. Any bar that complains just had their head in the sand hiding and not taking proactive measures.

PERSONALLY - I think it is a good thing!

That's about it for now. Nuttin but golf in my life to talk about.

Rod