I grew up with a fairly eccentric group of childhood friends. There was “Mooch,” who would eat anything. “Zero” was banned from most grocery stores because he’d steal anything at any time. “Cobs” was a big ole strong farm boy who could toss a square hay bale about 20 yards.

Last week, we published a letter to the editor from C.M. Stebner, a visitor to our fair city from Margate, Fla. Mr. or Ms. Stebner (I can’t determine gender from initials) read our June 15 edition that contained our Top 10 Students feature. In the letter, he or she does a bit of statistical analysis and comes to the conclusion that there is too heavy an influence on sports and that’s what holds boys back academically.

Every year, it makes news. Every year, plenty of high school seniors check it out — as do their parents. I’m talking, of course, about The Princeton Review’s list of top 10 “party schools.”

Hi. I’m Steve Booher, and I approved this column.

Tell you what, let’s take care of a little business this morning, OK? Pull out the checkbook or log on to your bank’s Web site and make your house payment. Pay it in full.

Monday morning probably isn’t the time to debate the question of whether a state should impose the death penalty on those convicted of brutal and heinous murders. And you can’t decide that anyway after reading just a few sentences written on an opinion page of a daily newspaper.

Anyone who is over the age of 35 probably remembers raking leaves as a kid. Back then, doing any kind of yard work around the neighborhood was a good way to throw a few extra bucks into your pocket.

Gloucester, Mass., High School is about the size of St. Joseph’s Central. Recently, the school announced that 17 of its female students had become pregnant as the result of a “pregnancy pact.”

Every now and then, it’s a good idea to unclog your mind and give a voice to the random thoughts that just sort of orbit around your brain. I always write my random thoughts down on a scrap of paper or the back of a business card and toss them on my desk.

Dr. Randy Pausch was a computer science professor who spent his career developing virtual reality software at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pa. He’s also dying of pancreatic cancer.