TheTastyGreek

One other note- I know you love soccer. Greece's Super League starts play either the end of this month or sometime in September. You ought to try and take in a game, but make sure you let me know which one you try to go see... You want to be very careful about wearing the wrong color to the wrong game.

When you are in Athens, set aside an entire day for the Parthenon. Not just to tour the temple and Acropolis hill, but because the entry ticket also grants access to a number of other notable historical sites around the hill. Most people don't realize or bother to take advantage of what they paid for, but you can see the ancient Agora, Hadrian's Arch (and the accompanying gardens)... Something like 6 or 7 other peripheral venues that are all very much worth your time if you like history. Make sure you map it out, so that you aren't going up and down or across the hill any more than you need to. Seeing everything on your ticket will take you a full day. Another suggestion for another place to visit: try to hit Mount Lykavitos at the end of a day. There's a funicular train that takes you up for a very reasonable price and a restaurant at the top that is slightly less reasonable, but a nice place to take in a meal and a sunset. One of the nice things about Athens is that it's against the law to build past a certain height so as to prevent anyone from blocking views of any ruins and historical sites. When you get up past a certain elevation, you can see everything for miles around and Lykavitos is the best tourist vantage point that I know of. I'm guessing you'll go see the changing of the guard at Syntagma Square... While you're there, go through Plaka (the open-air market) but don't buy anything while you're walking in- note prices and buy on your way back out. A lot of the stuff that American tourists like are common wares you can find in many different shops, and the prices tend to drop further down the street where the property costs are lower. This is particularly true if your wife has a thing for gold jewelry, as there are a lot of places that make similar pieces at wildly divergent prices. A lot of people buy a bunch of souvenirs and gifts to take home the first time they see something they like, but then find the same thing for cheaper when they keep walking around. Haggle if you want... Or even if you don't want. If a place isn't too busy, the owner will probably start negotiating with you about anything you pick up and put down. Crete, I don't know much about tourist stuff. The Matala, Knossos Palace, the fortified port at Heraklion... Most of what I can tell you, you can get in a guidebook. When I'm in Crete, I generally stay out in the middle of nowhere in a tiny village called Venerato. That's where one of my uncles has his retirement ranch.

Mythos is the Greek national beer with the biggest market presence. I don't drink, so I can't speak to its virtues. But I had a buddy make the trip over there with me in 2003, and he drank it everywhere we went. Beer isn't big over there because it's so easy to grow good grapes in the soil. Greece's equivalent to microbrews and homebrews isn't in beer, it's in wine. Up into the mid 90's, my grandparents lived in a house that's since been turned into a subway stop along one of the main thoroughfares in Athens (Mesogeion Avenue - they ran the 2004 Olympic Marathon along that street) and even they had grapevines growing on an overhead trellis that screened their front patio. When people over there want to drink, they generally go with wine or one of the notable Greek liqueurs (Ouzo, Raki, Mastika, etc.). Beer is a pretty distant third.

Sounds like a Greek last name.

I've been thinking of it as Paradise by the 100 Foot-Candle Lights.

He'd have to find a school that had a basketball scholarship available for him, though. Wait a minute... (Thanks, Cooley)

School has to come first. Sad news, but I wish him well. Just keep on truckin'.

Then it would be 394 combined feet of heat.

No good. I'm from a very strict temple, and I can't draft on the Sabbath.

If they need a backup date, check on November 25th. I've got that day off from work.

Damn... That's a bad one, then. How about February 7th? I know it's a Monday, but it's tough to find a date that's perfect for everyone.

I meant the 4th. Got confused. Saturday, September 4th at 3:00 p.m.

I propose September 3rd, 3:00 p.m. It's a Saturday, so work conflicts should be minimal. Doing it in the afternoon lets people handle kids sports but doesn't eat up the whole night. And it's the last weekend before NFL season starts, so the injury situation/starters will be as clear as possible. Seems perfect.

Don't be too hasty... There's always the "Threaten to Hold Our Breath Until We Pass Out" option. And I don't know about the rest of you, but my face has been really pissing me off lately. I might have to take it out on my nose.

Maybe I'm being too picky... But technically, THIS player is DRIVING away from the program.

It's a healthy vent. Things could be more torturous- Like when Tobi writes.

First things first: The boys are thirsty in Atlanta. No time for football!

10-4, breaker. Over and out.

First, steroid rumors. Then, the marijuana news. Now what? Trucker meth?

Not tough to pick the top 5 wins of the current era.

Yes, that's true. But don't spoil the fun. Protect the blind side? He'd rather check his blind spot. C.B. on deez nuts.

Better film: Rudy? Or Smokey and the Bandit? Keenan makes his choice.

Keenan's new uni: Un-ironic trucker hat. Replicas for sale?