[Jeff Higgins]

My wife and I enjoy a good bottle of wine with a good dinner. We both like to cook and cook well, with part of the experience being the enjoyment of a well chosen bottle of wine to go with it. I think we drink 4-6 bottles a month.

I like a good Scotch or a good Irish Whiskey. I keep several varieties in the liquor cabinet. Most of them last a year or better, with the really special ones lasting several.

We don't even keep beer in the house. We never made some kind of a conscious decision not to, we just don't drink much of it. I'll have a pint when out with friends doing something, when we stop for lunch or something, but that's about it.

My dad and his siblings all drank to excess. Too many of the folks I travelled the world with while fixing airplanes did as well. I've been around, and have dealt with too many drunks to ever want to impose that burden on anyone else. I've also lost a few good friends to the bottle, and have seen what that does to their loved ones.

In moderation, alcohol can be wonderful. I guess we can say that about a lot of things. We are all wired a little differently from one another, with some able to to "dance with this devil" on their terms, some not. As long as we know who we are and act accordingly, all goes well. It sure can go bad in a hurry for some, though...