Our dear friend Bill Norris will be traveling to San Francisco next week for the national finals of the World Cocktail Competition. He will be representing the Austin/Central Texas chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild; the winner of the contest will represent the United States in the international competition in Berlin, so there is a lot at stake here--specifically I am thinking of all the rounds of drinks that Bill will buy us upon his triumph there.

I know that it is customary for persons of faith to pray for drinkers. But what do you do for drink-makers? Everybody has his or her own way of sending positive vibes out into the universe so I would like all friends of Bill N and fans of fine drink to send your best wishes to him on Tuesday. I seriously doubt that this contest is the type of event that will be televised, not even on one of the more obscure permutations of ESPN. But perhaps some voracious San Francisco blogger will live-blog the event, in which case we can all gather at FINO and drink to Bill, sending our cosmic shout-outs* through the ether, while we huddle around a laptop, watching the words pour onto the screen as fast as the blood vessels pop out of Bill's head. Good luck, my friend!

*Bill, should it be shouts-out? You're the grammarian, The Professor