I like beer.

>I'm a mild and content man these days. Downton Abbey, a nice meal, and an occasional glass of pinot noir with Lady Di is a fine evening. It was not always so. I listened to Blues the other day, while I sipped a glass of cold beer. My mind drifted to days of yore. Commander. Russ. Scott and Bob. Betas and Fijis. I don't miss it, but I'm glad I lived it. Thanks, guys.

Alison M. and the Deathly Hallows.

Brother Andy and his lovely daughter, Alison, stopped by at the conclusion of their college tour last weekend. Andy and Ali visited Emory, Wake Forest, Elon, Furman, Duke, UNC, and UVa, then spent the night in the Boro (which is about half-way between Charlottesville and Tampa). Ali's a smart gal, you see; and she has choices. I'm fairly sure she's never made anything but an "A" in any class she's taken, and her S.A.T. scores got her an invite to apply to all sorts of schools, including Yale. Yeah, yeah, but more impressive still...


...is that she proudly sports earrings inspired by Harry's Potter's "Deathly Hallows".

Higher Education.

I've been reading about how colleges and universities have had to fight for funding during these dour economic times (That's the Claflin College Panther and the Voorhis Tiger duking it out at right). Still, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an institution of higher learning in the Palmetto State, as last weekend's tour of the State revealed. Left from Walterboro, home of University of South Carolina- Salkehatchie's East Campus (and the politically incorrect mascot moniker "Indians"), and took off for Conway, in the Pee Dee Region of the State. Conway is home to Coastal Carolina University which boasts PGA golfer Dustin Johnson among its grads. After completing the first leg of my journey, I headed for Greenville. Along the way, I passed Florence, home of Francis Marion University. I'm not sure which graduates of FMU are famous, but a couple of my buddies, Chris Phillips and Fr. Johnnie Davis have sheepskins from there. From Florence, I travelled through The Midlands, which house Carolina capitol city Columbia's University of South Carolina, of course. You must know that the Gamecocks are are the reigning NCAA baseball champs. From Columbia, it was on to the Upstate, where I passed Newberry College. Newberry is buddy Mike's alma mater (They used to be Indians, but now they're wolves). Just up the road in Clinton, you can exit to visit Presbyterian College (with the beautifully named "Blue Hose" mascot. You are predestined to either get that or not). Through Greenville, I passed both Bob Jones University, alma mater of fellow St. Jude's Vestry member Daron Smith, and Furman University, home of the Paladins (and alma mater of former Leto High School Falcon defensive back John "Whitey Butt" Zemina. After my stay in the Upstate, I headed home, back down I-385 to I-26 past Orangeburg, home of historically black colleges South Carolina State University, and Claflin University. I'm not sure how all these schools are doing in the fight for the diminishing public dollar, but I do know that Claflin University was whipping up on Voorhis at Fluor Field on Friday Night.