A few random thoughts on a hot June weekend:

Here in the Valley of the Sun we’ve officially entered monsoon season, but in reality you really don’t notice it until after July 4 has come and gone. The first indications of the monsoon are seeing the clouds start stacking up over the Superstition mountains to our east and whatever other mountains they’re called to the north. And you’ll also see days where the hot westerlies are replaced by equally-hot winds from the east. Neither of those have happened yet – the clouds we’ve seen to date are just wispies and the sky is that shimmering azure that you only see around here when the temps are well over 100.

The pool hit 90 for the first time on Thursday, right on schedule. Funny how it takes the better part of six weeks for the pool to climb from the high ’70s to the nineties; come October when the temperature god flips the switch it will take only a week or two to make the opposite transition.

The U.S. Open is always the hardest test of professional golf’s four majors, but this year’s edition at San Francisco’s Olympic Club is something else altogether. Between the beauty of the course and the level of precision golf that is required, it is absolutely must viewing for the golf fan 9and the not-so-much golf fan) out there.

If you want my opinion, Fox News’ Martha McCallum and Megyn Kelly are the two hottest babes on TV these days. No matter what they wear and what colors they puts on (Martha seems partial to reds, Kelly seems to lean towards blues and purples) they never fail to impress.

The Beach Boys have added a concert in Phoenix to their schedule for July 7. I may just have to take that one in. They sounded pretty damned good yesterday morning on Good Morning, America.

Put me down as unimpressed by President Obama’s decision to grant amnesty and work permits to up to 800,000 people who are here in the country illegally. Two questions: 1) I wonder if the Department of Labor will now add this new pool of people into the mix when they’re computing their monthly unemployment numbers (don’t count on it), and 2) wonder what Joe six-pack residing in “swing states” like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio will think about that? (I’m guessing not much).

Politically, while the Obama decision might be seen as politically expedient after 1 1/2 months of bad news all around and shrinking approval and poll numbers, I’m guessing this move backfires in a big way as time goes by. What I am surprised at is this kind of decision being made in mid-June rather than, say, in October, or during the upcoming Democratic convention. I’m guessing it shows just how dire a situation the Obama campaign see itself as being in at this point in time.