After a long absence, I have some news to report finally! First, had a delightful and informative meeting with the glamorous Tracie Lee of Cengage Learning. Tracie is one of the few people I know who was born in Atlanta, how about that? Second, just learned that Steve Johnson -- the beer man - is retiring from Clemson University in March. Steve and his wife Maria are moving to Costa Rica where Maria is from and Steve is looking forward to gardening which is his passion. You'll all remember that Steve worked long and hard on the first issues of Against the Grain, back in 1989! I remember having late night conversations with him as we were getting ATG started. Steve also used to publish a very successful beer newsletter way back when and he also used to run a "beer tasting" night at the Charleston Conference with Maria. Much fun was had by all of us.