today's blond moment

Today, I needed to filter through about 650Mb worth of engineering drawings to find a few specific files. So, given my lack of engineering expertise, I went to an engineer that sits just down the hall from me for help:

Dovie (cheerfully enters office): "Hey Nikos...can you take a look at these and find the blah blah drawings? It's all Greek to me."

Nikos (chuckling): "No problem, I'm fluent."

Dovie: "Thanks. Just save them to blah blah drive."(cheerfully exits)

[end scene]

Hah! Did you catch it? I was talking to a guy named NIKOS! And, to make it worse, I JUST had a conversation with him last week about how the Greeks don't celebrate birthdays, but they DO celebrate name days...so in a way it's more fun, because everyone you know with your name gets to party together on the same day (which, for Nikos, means about 50% of the male population).

(This, of course, made me very happy to NOT be Greek, because...clearly...I would never get to have a day of celebration.)

About five minutes after I got back to my desk, I got the joke...and laughed out loud alone in my office. I'm sure Nikos could hear me, and I hope he thinks I was laughing about something (anything) else. And way too much time has passed by now for me to go back to him and say "Hey...that was funny" or something equally stupid.

Mustang planned an Astros Spirit Day for today (excellent timing), and this is the picture I sent for the "Best Dressed" contest they were having.

I got 'Honorable Mention' all the way from London!! It might seem weird that I'm holding my laptop, but I'm trying to show my commitment to our boys from across the pond...I've had to sign up to watch over the Internet (on a 2x3 inch viewing screen, mind you).

the ugly green monster bit me

Seriously!! How did she get this gig??? I've GOT to figure out how to work with Alyson Footer so that when she gets promoted to bigger and better things (is that possible, given what she's currently doing?), I can take over as the Astros inside-scoop-girl!

I actually teared up a bit reading this article.

She's GOT to know how sweet a gig she's got going...I just hope that she's ready to move on when I get back from England!

oh no...i might like golf

I’ve got a whole list of things I’d like to do or learn how to do while I’m in England...some are things I’ve always wanted to do, and some are just for the sake of trying something new and different. Writing, painting, photography classes and horseback riding lessons are all on the list…and just before coming here, I added golf.

--- background story ---
(feel no guilt for skipping down to the main point)
Now, I have never EVER wanted to play golf. I always said it looked boring and tedious, and it’s a really expensive hobby (and frankly, there are other equally expensive hobbies I’d rather take up first, such as photography – if you really get into it). However, this summer my mom gave me tickets to the Shell Houston Open, and I went with a few girlfriends. We got some good advice from a guy on the shuttle bus to the course: “You’ve got two options, really…either pick a green and plant yourself to watch all the players come through, OR pick a player and follow him through the course to watch his game.” We went for the “pick a green…” option, and planted ourselves at the 17th hole.

This is where I started realizing that my disdain for golf actually stems from a lack of understanding (and an assumption that it takes a special blend of talent, fate and fairy dust in order to consistently make contact with that teeny tiny ball) rather than tediousness. Turns out, I like tedious things (as long as they’re interesting or challenging) because it gives me something to really focus on and turn off the rest of the world.

The weekend after the Houston Open, we visited my aunt and uncle in the thriving metropolis of Tyler, TX. My uncle is a GREAT golfer, and when I was telling my story about the Open (because I knew he’d appreciate it), he offered to take me to the driving range at his club. And off we went…where I got a second piece of good advice: “Now, do you see how – all across this field – there are balls on the ground as close as 10 feet from the tee boxes? That means that EVERYBODY hits a bad shot here and there…so don’t you worry about these other guys out here. Just concentrate on what you’re doing and have fun.” Brilliant. Exactly what I needed to hear.
--- end background story ---

So, last week, I signed myself up for 6 weeks of golf lessons. Last night was Lesson #1, and I was the only pupil (Woohoo!! Private lessons!) After about 30 minutes of getting familiar with a few terms, learning how to hold the club, and some coaching on stance, my coach had me swinging on my own, and worked with me until I hit 3 balls in a row, completely unaided. Then he left me with a bucket of balls and said “You need to hit 25 more balls before you leave.”

I managed to hit at least that many, about half of which actually caught some really good air and flew straight ahead. The really good ones made about 125 yards (or is it feet – well, whatever measure of distance is commonly used in golf) and a couple of them looked like they went even farther than that!

Confession: I loved every minute of it.

i want alyson footer's job

Alyson Footer is a journalist for mlb.com, and I would love to have her job. I have visions of all sorts of cool things that she probably gets to do...like attend MLB parties throughout the year (in AND out of season) and any pre- or post-game activities that she wants, hang with all the cool broadcasters (who come up with all those amazing statistics and give away blue stars to the guys who make the really great plays), and of course...interview the players.

She's doing a daily commentary series with Chris Burke throughout the Astros post-season run, and I'm about as jealous as is humanly possible! Well...in all honesty, it WOULD be worse if she were interviewing Lance or Bradley ("Is that what he prefers you call him?" "No...I do").

Laurie...can you hook a sister up?

By the way, in case you missed Game 4 yesterday...you can check out the photo gallery page on MLB's website. There's a really great shot of the crowd in the Crawford Boxes all going for Jason Lane's home run ball. (Click on the "Sunday's Gallery" link at the bottom of the picture-box labeled "Daily Pics" to choose any galery for viewing.)

taking recommendations

I've just signed up with Blockbuster's version of the Netflix subscription service (Netflix hasn't made it to the UK yet).

Anybody care to share their 'must see' movies...?

it's not versailles, but it'll do

So, in case you're planning or considering a trip to the UK to take advantage of the free room and board...you might be interested in the luxurious accommodations you can expect.

Here are a few pictures of my home sweet home in England.

haven't received my post card?

Don't worry...it's on the way!

The US Postal Service promises "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds", but they're no fools! The trick is, they just don't specify how long it will actually take!

how cool am i?

I'm feeling rather cool about my new place, due in part to the intercom system installed for visitors. It's so very metro...visitors have to buzz from the ground floor and then I buzz them into the building. THEN they trudge up the stairs and knock on the door.

At 7:45 this morning, as I was getting ready for work, someone buzzed my flat! Not being used to this noise, it took a few seconds to realize that it was NOT the fire alarm (sigh of relief), rather a visitor trying to gain access (Who needs to see me at THIS hour? Welcome back, panic attack!). And it took another few seconds to realize that it was likely the post man (not Joe, for those who heard that story) who was delivering my (insert singing angels in the background) broadband set-up package from British Telecom.

Frankly, it was WAY too early in the morning for me to have such an emotional roller coaster...maybe that buzzer isn't so cool after all!