I’m blogging outside tonight by tiki light. This is the first night in several months one can honestly say that there’s no heat in the air. Oh don’t get me wrong – it’s still warm – but it’s not the kind of oppressive heat we’ve had for the past few months. It’s still humid, but my sense is this is the last week of the monsoon season. We’ve had a couple of storms this week and some nice rainfall, but when the monsoon leaves as it is supposed to on Monday, my guess is we’ll settle in for that lengthy period between September and February where practically every day is the same – sun, sun, sun, no humidity, and any cloud that appears in the sky warrants mention on the evening weather forecast.

It would appear our pool temperature maxed out at 96 degrees this year – a little short of the century mark we hit last year, but pretty damned warm nevertheless. It has dropped four degrees in the past week – right now, it’s 90 – so with tonight not as warm as previous ones have been, my evening dip was actually close to what you would call refreshing.

I’ll admit to being surprised by Barack Obama’s choice of Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware to be his running mate. Me, if I really reallywanted the Presidency, the no-brainer pick was Hillary Clinton. Biden is such a bland choice, I’m beginning to think that Obama’s ego is such that he would never chance having someone on the ticket that could come close to overshadowing him. I honestly don’t see what the Biden choice gives to the ticket. Foreign policy experience? Isn’t that why you have a Secretary of State? Delaware’s electoral votes? Not only are they a pittance, there was no chance of Delaware going Republican any time soon. So excuse me, Barack, when I tell you you’re choice for a VP is a head-scratcher.

I can’t tell you how much joy it gives me to watch the New York Yankees’ chances to make the post-season fade into the sunset, courtesy of the Boston Red Sox. And not only that – “A-Fraud”‘s performance on Tuesday (2 K’s [including a strikeout to end the game], 2 double plays grounded into [one with the bases loaded and the game on the line], 1 error) was just a marvel to behold. My only regret is that the game didn’t take place on a ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast so I could hear perennial Yankee suck-ups Jon Miller and Joe Morgan make every excuse in the world for the ills befalling the Bronx Bombers.

Goodboy “Killer” Kowalski and I are in agreement on this: if given the choice between the Red Sox winning and the Yankees losing, we’d rather watch the Yankees lose every time.

If you’ve ever been even remotely interested in the Watergate scandal, James Rosen’s book, “The Strong Man” is a must-read. While Rosen’s book presents a portrait of Attorney General John Mitchell quite at odds with that made popular by Bob Woodward and carl Bernstein in “All The President’s Men”, Rosen can pull it off because of the exhaustive research that went into the book, including never-before revealed testimony made before the Senate Watergate Committee. It’s an extremely well-written and coherent study, positively riveting in its ability to recall the absolute chaos of the times and the early years of the Nixon administration.

Hard to believe three years have passed since Hurricane Katrina. This is a pretty good column about New Orleans’ continued struggle to come back.