Found out yesterday my great uncle Harry died. He was part of the North Carolina branch of my mom's side of the family, where I get my Duke fanaticism from. The man was definitely a force to be reckoned with. He was a retired Air Force Col. and trust me, unless you wanted a good talking to, you did not cross the man. I'll miss him. Mostly because he was the next best thing to having my own grandfather around (they were brothers). Since my grandfather died when I was around 7, I didn't have much time to get to know him. Uncle Harry kind of took his place in my mind. We used to go down to visit him and Aunt Mary when they lived in the Smokey mountains and more recently in Durham. He would let us kids tear around the neighborhood with his golf cart and when they were in the mountains we would go pick strawberries in a field near their house. Sigh. I wish I could be at the funeral on Saturday. With just that side of the family there will be tons of people, add in all of my aunt and uncle's friends and they are going to have to rent out Cameron Indoor Stadium just for the service!

Only two days! Oh god, I am so excited about this trip I can hardly stand it! Last night I barely slept four hours. We can drink on the bus on the way up to JFK on Thursday but I don't think I will. I want to remember every moment, from the minute we catch the bus in Harrisburg to the minute we land on Monday. Oh, don't get me wrong, I will be drinking once we get there but I don't plan on going overboard. Welll, ummm, we'll see about that one too. Since I will not have access to a computer while I am gone, the blog will probably not get updated until I get back. I will be keeping a journal while I am there and hopefully I will be able to put some of it on the site.

This is what ESPN likes to call Rivalry Week in mens hoops. Duke plays UNC tomorrow night but that rivalry is not as strong as it used to be for numerous reasons. The main one being that UNC just isn't that good anymore. They have been conspicuously absent from the top of the rankings since Dean Smith left, not that I'm taking anything away from Doherty or anything, he's a good coach, but the damn Heels just are not what they used to be. Does my Blue Devils heart good. Supposedly, the big rivalry is between Duke and Maryland and I would have to agree. Part of it stems back to Wojo's decision to go to Duke instead of Maryland. Another part is just that it is fashionable to be a Duke hater. That's o.k., makes for some good hoops. Just wait until those damn turtles come into Cameron. There will be revenge, oh yes, there will be revenge.

On that note I better get back to work. The day before a vacation is like the last day of school for me. I know I need to pay attention but there is no way in hell I'm going to get anything accomplished today.