Vanderbilt University

22 Aug 2006. Third time's a charm. Nashville, Tenn., is the first large city we pass when undergoing a cross-country road trip. Having a brother attending university in southern California facilitates multiple such journeys along I-40. First time it was a weekend or a night, store was closed. Second time was a late afternoon, store had just closed. There were still employees and slowpoke customers inside though. That was infuriating, pounding on the windows helplessly like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters only to be ignored by the snooty clientele. Third time it was the beginning of fall semester. I was the only person in the circuitous queue holding anything other than reams of textbooks. The Nashville portion of the CCP was finally complete. Or so I thought. Later I discovered that there were three other large schools in town too. (Sorry Belmont, Lipscomb, and Tennessee State!) That was almost as disappointing as learning that Vandy's team name Commodores...it...it doesn't refer to my soul brothers at all?!?!

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

February 2004. I could not discern the weather as the university bookstore was connected to the billiards and bowling hall by a maze of doors and stairs. There was a break in the action thanks to my opponent being a no-show so I decided to pick out a souvenir. UTK, along with Texas at Austin, houses its men's athletic programs completely separate from the women. They even have slightly different logos - the women have sky blue script reading "Lady Volunteers" over the traditional big orange T. I saw a big ol' tumbler that was the same style as the USC one, only different coloring. This is when the whole collection idea began. Four-plus years later, the whim is still going strong.