Dear August: Over the past 140+ Years....

... Your family's company, Anheuser-Busch, has embodied the American dream and proved a remarkable study in ambition, business savvy, and entrepreneurship. . . "

Okay. No, I won't be sending August Busch IV any such letter. And yes, that's a riff off the letter sent to him by the Carlos Brito of InBev. And yeah, okay, it's all business and I'm a sentimental sap. And you can read all about InBev's proposed offer today just about any place on the web, including here at the New York Times.

But if I could say something to Four [and his father Three], I'd say: DON'T DO IT. (And if I could say something to the family members that want the deal, it would be: "Short-term gain isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask the Millers and Uihleins.")

But that's not how business works. Sigh.

Anyway, for this first post-vacation blog entry, I had planned to mention that I'm back home after several weeks on the road and isn't it weird to be back and have access to a computer after being off-line for the better part of a month and I'm tired from traveling but also because I have pneumonia [the perfect vacation companion] . . . Blah, blah, blah. But the hell with it. I'm home. I'm sick (and hoping that the antibiotics kick in soon...) I'm just in time to watch The Deal Go Down.