No posting from me until after the long weekend. I leave Thursday for my annual trip to Tucson to golf with my father and brother, both of whom I haven’t seen since last summer. Seven rounds of golf in four days at Tucson National, and dad picks up the tab. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’m leaving my laptop at home for the first time in I can’t even remember how long. I’ve got my iPhone to stay in touch with people, and I’ve used 123Movies2Portable to burn a bunch of DVDs into a format that I can watch on the plane. I tried a bunch of free software out there to rip DVDs but nothing seemed to work, or wouldn’t convert copyrighted material. This program is a gem, and I recommend it highly.You can try it for one day for free to test drive it; if you like it, enter 15OFF in the coupon code at the software manufacturer’s website and save 15% when you decide to purchase. No, they haven’t paid me for their endorsement — I just think it’s a great product and worth every penny.

The goal is to try to forget about work and politics and economics for four days, and that means leaving my laptop at home. If you know me, you know that’s not an easy thing for me to do, so please wish me luck. I wish you all a great weekend with family and friends, however you end up spending it.

- Dave