Clay versus Ruben. Ruben versus Clay. It should be a great final contest on American Idol. Either one would make a great champion. I give the edge to Clay by about 51 to 49, but things could easily change depending on their final performances. I think that Clay has more range than Ruben. I think that he would be better in concert because he would have more variety. You could easily build a Las Vegas show around his talents or a Broadway play. On the other hand, Ruben is fun to watch and he's great on some songs. He's certainly larger than life. It will be a very close competition.

Jenna won Survivor. I didn't think that she had much of a chance, because I knew that the three guys would vote her off at the first opportunity. She one both immunity challenges to thwart their plans. Although, Matt threw the final contest because of some twisted logic that it would get him an extra vote. What an idiot. He should have known that he couldn't beat Jenna in the final vote and would have stood a better chance against Rob who deceived just about everyone. Matt lost 6-1. He didn't even get Rob's vote which was his reason for throwing the challenge. I still think that Rob should have won. There were 4 or 5 people who were completely shocked when they were voted off and it was all due to Rob's manipulation of other players. Jenna, Matt, and Butch were just along for the ride. They were for most part clueless about what was happening around them. That's what I like about Survivor. When its good it becomes almost like a Shakespearean play. The smart and deceptive usually win over the dumb and naive, but even the smart players have to fear being stabbed in the back by someone they trust.

There have been some awful storms lately, both in Missouri and Illinois. For the past two nights, I've been watching TV around 11:30 PM only to be notified of severe thunderstorms, possible tornados, and hail the size of golf balls on the way. Both times the storms were out west, heading for Arlington Heights, and on the way to the Northbrook area in about twenty minutes. Scary stuff. This morning I saw that one of the trees in the front was uprooted and lying in the street. It was a fairly large tree, but had just been planted last fall, so it didn't have very deep roots. There's probably a parable in there somewhere. I was watching the news in St. Louis last week and they interviewed a Pastor who had a tornado seem to lift over his head. He was OK, but the neighborhood was a disaster. Makes you think.