As many of you have noted, I’ve been away for the past few days, traveling to remote places pursuing an extreme golf vacation. Since last Wednesday, Mrs. Soxblog and I have been lucky enough to play two of the world’s best golf courses, Sand Hills in Nebraska and Ballyneal in Holyoke, CO. Sand Hills had no internet access, and by the time I got to Ballyneal which has a delightful wireless broadband setup coursing through the lodge, I had slipped into full vacation mode. I’ll have a lot more to say about the trip in the coming days, but in the meantime I’ll just say that we were incredibly fortunate to play two such magnificent golf courses and stay at two very special places.
Last night was the first time I really spent any serious time on the internets after four days away from the web. Usually bloggers say they don’t miss the web when they go away; I did. I was relieved to see that nothing much has changed. The left is still angry, the presidential race still looks static, and Andrew Sullivan is still obsessing over circumcision.
Today’s my travel day. Right now I’m in Holyoke, CO taking a sad look out the window at Ballyneal’s amazing golf course, eager to play it again and hatching plans to make that a reality. By the end of the day, I’ll be back in Boston. Since I’ve got a 150 mile ride to Denver Airport (a much-deserved living monument to the brilliant public servant Norm Minetta), and then a four hour flight to Boston, blogging will again be light today. Sorry.
But I’ll be back with full vigor (or “vigah” as we say in Boston) tomorrow, energized by the vacation of a lifetime. In the meantime, as Hugh already suggested, check out this great Richard Miniter report on the Beauchamp scandal. Amazingly, Miniter discovered stuff that was still untold. Miniter’s report should be the final nail in The New Republic’s coffin. It’s hard to see how the magazine can survive not only the publication of the bogus Diarists but also its subsequent stonewalling and obfuscation. A sneak preview:
Miniter spoke with several people involved in the extraordinary story, including the whistle-blower and a German woman who was Beauchamp’s fiance until just before he married, of all people, Miniter discovered, a fact-checker at The New Republic. That fiance said of her former boyfriend, the soldier/reporter: “He hates the army. The only reason he joined was because he wanted to have more experience to write about.”
You’ll want to read the whole thing.
By the way, if you sent me a really important email over the past few days, you might want to resend it tomorrow. The picture above is of the 12th hole at Ballyneal. Do you think I’ve been a happy guy the past few days or what?
Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com