Welcome To Tuscaloosa !

--After 4 days in Tuscaloosa, I feel qualified to write about it.

--First of all, to call Alabama a football state and Tuscaloosa a football town simply doesn’t do them justice. People that I’m meeting for the first time ever are asking, “are you ready for the game?” They’re referring to the September 5th matchup against Virginia-Tech. I’m trying to fit in, so I’ve been responding in this manner: “You know Hugh? …Hugh Damn Right! Let’s beat some Hokie ass, what’dya say?” These people have no interest whatsoever in college basketball, pro sports, or proper English, and I love it (except the distaste for college basketball of course). Back to proper English. In all seriousness, this is no small issue. In North Carolina, several people gave me a hard time for my southern accent and dialect. That’s ridiculous to me. You live in North Carolina people; southern accents happen.

--Continuing on now in stream-of-consciousness style: Got to go in Bryant-Denny Stadium (UA’s football stadium) today. Me and some other folks that were in a sales workshop decided to waltz our happy rear ends on to the playing field and the 50-yard line. This was really neat for 2 main reasons. 1: I was on the friggin’ 50-yard line of Alabama’s football field and 2. Most of the students I was with actually went to UA but they had never been on the field. Watching how ridiculously excited they were reminded me of seeing people hang out on the court of the Dean Dome for the first time. Really cool.

--My living arrangement has positives and negatives. It’s located near downtown Tuscaloosa on a road called Hackberry Lane. When people ask me where I live, I think I’m going to start calling it ‘The Hack Attack’ for 2 main reasons. 1: It sounds awesome. 2: Hackberry Lane sounds like a street in a horror movie. Think about it…If you were a serial killer, a road called “Hackberry Lane” would be a heck of a place to start.

--The apartment complex was built in the 1940’s so it’s kind of like hanging out at a grandparent or older relative’s place. It’s old-school for sure, and I like that. I mean, I'm living in an antique for goodness sake. Another thing that’s cool is that I can hear the marching band practicing each evening, and the football team actually practices less that 3/4 of a mile from here. All the residents here are graduate or law school students, so it’s very quiet which is a big plus.

--On the negative side, I’ve got no dishwasher or central air. I also have no washing machine or dryer because there are no hookups. In all honesty though, I don’t mind this stuff too bad. I’ve got a window unit in my bedroom which is all that really matters, and I’ve got two working arms so washing dishes is straight. Overall, Hackberry gets my seal of approval. I would absolutely recommend it to any dirt poor grad student.

--Obviously, I already miss all my good friends and family back in NC, but I knew that would be the case. Good news though. Thanks to Al Gore’s World Wide Net Web, and cellular telephone services, we’ll all be able to stay in touch.

--Can’t wait to write more about Alabama, but for now I’ve got to go for 3 main reasons. 1. A fantastic feature film starring Frank Sinatra (Kings go Forth) starts in 10 minutes on the only TV channel I get on my receiver. 2. I need to turn on the lights in the bathroom to give the cockroaches a head start so they don’t clog up the shower drain. Just kidding! LOL! LO-freakin’L. I don’t have cockroaches. ..At least I don’t think I do. 3. Nick Saban is throwing rocks at my window trying to get more advice from me on how to run the team. This guy just doesn’t stop.