Do you ever notice that sometimes you need a vacation when you come back from vacation?

I took one of my annual summer vacation trips to Virginia last week. At least they've become annual trips as of about three years ago. I visited some friends in the Lynchburg area and had a chance to make a quick stop at Hampden-Sydney College.

I can almost say I had a chance to visit our friends at Hampden-Sydney. Over the past year, there has been an increased effort on the part of both all-male schools to share information, and even share students after a fall break exchange in 2006. I had the opportunity to attend a portion of H-SC's annual Alumni College.

I arrived Saturday morning to hear history professor Ralph Hattox's energetic lecture on the history of the Islamic people. Hattox weaved a verbal tapestry of detail, at one point sharing with the large crowd of Hampden-Sydney alumni gathered for the weekend series the exchange of gifts between the Islamic and Western ambassadors. While the Muslims provide gifts of extravagant beauty, the best gift the Western world could offer was "huntin' dogs!"

Fellow history professor James Simms followed later in the morning session with a fascinating lecture on the science and technological differences between the West and Islam from 400 BC until around 1500 AD. He masterfully explained how the Reformation not only led to a revival of scientific achievement during that time in Western civilization, but continued to lead to even more democratic movements politically as well as religiously.

Some of my time was spent enjoying the wondrous beauty of the Virginia countryside. While there never seems to be enough hours in the day when I make my annual pilgrimage to the East (my goddaughter reminded me once again that I still have not visited a single Civil War site during any of my trips), it was a good opportunity to recharge the batteries.

Now, how many pages do I left to work on in the football media guide?..........