While much of the attention today was on who signed at Alabama and Auburn, it’d be silly to forget that there were colleges and universities in the immediate Birmingham metro area that got some commitments as well.

UAB – The first national signing day of the Garrick McGee era seems to have Blazer fans excited. McGee seems committed to his pledge made shortly after he arrived that he’d focus on recruiting in-state; 18 of the 25 student-athletes that signed today are from Alabama. Nine of them are from metro Birmingham.

Samford – Pat Sullivan’s program signed 18 student-athletes today. The school signed six players from the state of Alabama (and just as many from Florida), with three of them (Ben Tamburello, IIII – Hoover; Jake Wilks – Trussville; Denzel Williams – Columbiana) hailing from the metro area.

Miles – While the Golden Bears hadn’t officially posted their Signing Day list as of yet (the post will be updated with the link once they do), they did just so happen to share their 2012 football schedule yesterday. This year’s games include a meeting with the University of North Alabama at Legion Field for the sixth annual Golden Labor Day Classic and a homecoming match against Clark Atlanta.

BSC – It just didn’t feel right to talk about the other institutions today and not mention Birmingham-Southern. Luckily they did have some good news to share with their fans – D3hoops.com has the men’s basketball team ranked No. 11 in the nation. Nice jobs, guys!

Now it’s only a matter of time… until the start of the 2012 college football season.

You’ve seen your friends change their profile pictures to help promote it and you’ve most likely heard your favorite area nonprofit talk about it. We’ve got a few links that tell you a little more and a video showing what some organizations are willing to do to help raise their profile (and that of others in the state of Alabama).

Folks driving by downtown Birmingham’s Powell School (and folks who haven’t had the chance yet) would be happy to take stock of progress being made with regards to efforts to save the 123 year old building that once served as the city’s first school.

The folks at Avondale Brewing Company and Main Street Birmingham want you to join them in their efforts to Occupy Avondale with more businesses. It’s a pretty cool space and you’d be across the street from a constant supply of craft beer. What more would you want? How about six months free rent too?

There’s an online protest taking place today (January 18, 2012) of epic proportions. Here’s some information about why so many tech folks are up in arms about SOPA and PIPA, including links to some information from both sides of the debate.

Some of us who lived here in 2010 remember the Dale Peterson ad that went viral and spoofs it inspired. Well, we’re most likely going to get another dose of spoofs as his wife Kathy’s two-minute video for her campaign to be Public Service Commission president starts its ascent up the Internet awareness chart.

The long-term outlook for the county provides the perfect testing opportunity to see if Birmingham, AL is ready for pay and display meters. A recent ruling associated with the county’s bankruptcy filing means we’ll get a good sample pool for some time to come.