Windows 7 - Buy before July 11th at big discount!

Microsoft announced today that you can pre-order the new Windows 7 Operating System at a greatly reduced price. This offer will expire on July 11th so you must act soon. The Premium Edition for this offer is priced at only $49 and the Professional Edition will be $99. On the official release date of October 22nd the prices will be $119 and $199. Details from CNET News.

You may pre-order at Microsoft or one of your favorite stores including Best Buy, Office Depot, Office Max, Costco, Staples, Wal-Mart and other retailers. You can upgrade directly from Vista, but you will have to do a clean install if you still are using Windows XP. You can explore the features, compare editions, and watch videos at the Microsoft link above.

Ed McMahon

Ed was known as Johnny Carson's sidekick on the Tonight Show and he passed away last night. I was lucky enough to have known Ed during my days as "Celebrity Director" for the Quad Cities Open and we even shared the same birthday. For a few years the open was called the "Ed McMahon Quad Cities Open." Ed would fly in from Hollywood and be with us for the week of the tournament. I remember one time flying to O'hare to pick up Ed and his wife. He sat up in the cockpit with me, and being an old air force pilot, I asked him if he wanted to talk to the tower which he did. The controllers got a big kick out of that.

In the photo Ed and I are talking to Tom Sullivan at the first tee. You may remember Tom from a couple of movies he was in. His book "If you could see what I hear" was made into a movie. Blind from birth Tom excelled in many sports including skydiving, and golf. As a celebrity appearing at our tournament in 1976 he also sang the National Anthem at that year's Super Bowl. Here you can watch a tribute to Tom narrated by Betty White.

So here's a toast to Ed who lived life, and to my friend Tom who is still living life to the fullest!

Being on the Board of Directors for the QCO for 10 years was one of the greatest thrills of my life, and now it's all a memory. Life is made of memories. What memory will you make this week?

A Recent Trip.

We just returned from a short trip to Provo, Utah where we visited friends. We were most impressed by the beauty of this town. It's about an 11 hour drive from Phoenix with constant changing scenery along the entire route. Out of Phoenix, along I-17, you travel through mountains and arriving in Flagstaff you're greeted by beautiful tall pine trees. Portions north of Flag look like the surface of the moon and a couple of hours later you're in Page, Az, where I have taken photos of the famous Antelope Slot Canyons. A couple of hours after Page there is Zion and Bryce National Parks. Beautiful country! We stopped at Bryce on the way home, which was our third visit, but there's always something you haven't seen before. (Photo above - Click for larger View.) Bryce is a must visit if you're traveling this part of the U.S. On our first visit we took a helicopter ride over the canyon and it was breathtaking!

Also on the way home we discovered Utah's Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park . We drove through, took a few photos, and checked out the RV campground which was very nice. There have been six movies shot at this location. We're looking forward to returning soon with our RV, ATV, and cameras. Life is good.