1 piece bad news, 3 pieces good news = recipe for today's post

1 piece bad news, 3 pieces good news: the Astros got swept by a total of 5 runs, the Horns are #1 in the BCS, Mom and David have returned from their trip to Turkey and Greece, and I've graduated from pool virgin to pool guppy. Not necessarily in order of importance, obviously.

We'll start with the first:

1. Mom and David were in Istanbul, Athens, and the Greek islands for the past two weeks. I just talked to her as she was waiting to fly home to Raleigh from JFK. My favorite Turkish anecdote so far is that she learned many ways to say "no" while walking through the Turkish markets. Two of her favorite lines were: "I want you to be my client" and "May I hassel you?" American barkers have a thing or two to learn from the Turkish, it seems!

2. The Horns are #1! Perhaps the Trojans are better, but I'm certainly not going to complain. We'll take it when we can get it. Vince = 2005 Heisman winner??

3. Poor Astros. Does anyone know if a 5-run margin breaks a record for the lowest overall win margin in a World Series? Getting swept 0-4 certainly wasn't indicative of how each team played. And how about that Game 3 in Houston? 14 innings. Crazy. At least we have A pennant under our belts, yes?

4. On Thursday evening, I went to a pool hall with some of my Epic colleagues in Portland, OR. We had had a long week on-site, and we needed to blow off some steam. I had never really played pool before (certainly not by any *real* rules), but the guys were kind enough to teach me some tricks. Yes, I used the bridge, but we named it "the machuki" (Greek? word for thing-a-ma-jig), so I wasn't too ashamed of using it. And, as the only girl in a group of guys, I even managed to win a game or two! Not too shabby! :) I'm certainly no pool shark, but I think I'm definitely a pool guppy.

Quick side-note: how do you think pets think of their owner?

Dogs: master, god, goddess, omnipotent being of the universe.

Cats: lady, man, hand that feeds me

Signing off for now...Scout's lady.

Home for the weekend and avoiding homecoming

In the spirit of staying in tune with the newest craze, I'll follow other technically-inclined peeps and start a blog, against all advice from my s.o. He doubts that I'll update it enough, but we'll show him. Ha! Or he'll be right and my inherent tendency to lie on the couch and watch Alias and Friends reruns will prevail. Until then, though, we'll proceed as planned.

I was in the Bermuda Triangle yesterday. Yes, people, I found it, and I was there. I was in Newark -- whose only saving grace, I learned, was its proximity to the city -- for the week and heading home to Madison.

It all started about 4:00 EST when a group of colleagues and I called 4 cabs over a 40-minute span. Only 1 showed. The dispatcher kept insisting that the cabbie had driven by and not seen anyone. How is that possible when we're standing right on the doorstep?! We were grumpy, cold, and dependent on the durn cabs to retreive us. So, when the 1 trusty cab came, we shook our heads in faint disbelief and got in. At EWR, we were able to get on an earlier flight to Detroit (yay!), but nevertheless, we remained in the Bermuda Triangle.

We sat in the gate area, reading our pleasure-reading-of-choice (me, US and People; the guys, USA Today), when it came to our attention that the music we had taken for granted wasn't coming from the airport speakers, but from some bozo weirdo with a cowboy hat on (not that I'm judgmental of cowboy hats but just wait) playing his horrendous techno music OVER HIS LAPTOP SPEAKERS. My first thought was, "well, maybe he's been sitting here for a long time with a delayed flight and he forgot his headphones so he's just desperate." My generosity and positivity lasted all of 5 seconds when I realized his headphones were AROUND HIS NECK. What a tool. So, there he sits -- under his cowboy hat, in his 70's shirt with pearly buttons, his retro bowling shoes on -- listening to techno music. Unbelievable. And he's oblivious to how rude he's being. Some people. Thank god we left him in Newark and didn't take him with us to Detroit.

Never you fear, there were other strange people to encounter in Detroit. First there was the weird kid at the sushi place who was 8 years old and ordering sushi like a snotty 50-year old business man. Reminded me of the kid in About a Boy -- that movie with Hugh Grant and Toni Collette -- where the kid's mom is totally clueless about social graces, therefore rendering the poor boy totally clueless about social graces.

Then there was the man-child sitting next to me on the airplane who refused to turn his cell phone off while on the runway. Just turn it off, dude, the flight is only 48 minutes. Seriously, some people.

Goodbye, B.T. Hello, Madtown. It's homecoming this weekend, so the s.o. and I are staying inside where it's safe. Maybe we'll venture out, but we'll put our gas masks on before doing so. Look at me, I think I'm Sidney Bristow.

I'm heading out to Salem, Oregon on Monday, so I'm going to get off the computer and enjoy the rest of my work-free weekend. Yeah, who am I kidding? I'll probably work tomorrow. At least work + watching football is more fun than just work! Have a great weekend.

...scoutfinch signing off for now.