From the Greek root word...

My bracket is in a total shambles. I haven’t been following NCAA BB this year. I have been in Australia. Have I mentioned that? I decided when I filled out my bracket to base it entirely on heart and allegiance. Genetically, I have Holy Cross winning two games and Louisville and U of K (Kentucky) in the elite 8. Of course, follow the logic, I have Georgetown winning it all.

The Yahoo! league I set up with all these Australians in it… (They are asking me things like what does Villanova Mean? “That’s a Native American term for flopping to get offensive foul calls… Syracuse means ‘soft schedule’.”) I’m dead last in the league. Dead last. They all picked on team color and mascot and I am last. Also I have not seen a single game yet, and that takes some of the fun out of March Madness.

Special to my extended family; Look. I’m sorry about the U of K loss to KU. We all are. Tubby has to go and by all reports will go. All we can do now is pull together and will the Hoyas to a win. I know you are with me.

Work is totally nuts. I am working late 6 nights a week. This seems unpleasantly familiar. Boo. I will have to work on some kind of mediation strategy but right now I am too busy.

Taco Night (pictured above) was fantastic. I had the team for tacos, nachos, and margaritas. We had a great time. There was a good turnout. (Joy, Liz, Hussey, Jess and Steven, Chris, Jillaine, Dr. Box (sarah) and of course Mel Jackson. Joy's sister Eshter was there as well.) The picture above is taken after the tacos are long gone and the 3rd pitcher of margaritas is running low. Afterwards we went out to a bunch of bars. We went dancing at a place near my apartment creatively named, “Lounge”. I started to get a little tired so I said goodbye to the girls and headed out. I could not believe it when I got outside and the sun was up. It was 8:30 by the time I got home, I needed huevos rancheros but I just went to sleep. Tequila! After that I went to practice on Sunday. Total Disaster!

I can’t find the food here that is just how I like it yet. It’s all okay, but just not exactly how I like it. That is really getting old. I am running out of my, “it’s fun to try new things” mood and I really want something to be just how I want it to be, and not have hidden pumpkin or sultanas, the official ingredients of all food here.

Adding to my food home sickness, is that the Gastronauts just had the one year birthday celebration without me. They went back to Su San for live seafood. There is a great new video on the site of the live octopus moments before being consumed.

I have to run. More on the weekend perhaps. Miss you. Send me some mail. Seriously.

Rooting Around

(Written and intended to be posted on March 17)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! There is a ton going on right now and I have no time to blog. Work is double plus nutso but that’s boring. There is a grand prix on in Melbourne this weekend, a big formula 1 race. There is also the world swimming championships. They have plenty of pools here but for some reason they turned the Rod Laver tennis center into a pool. It is a little odd. I want to go see the water polo.

I started a March madness pool for the flummoxed Australians I work with. There are 11 of us. I am in last place. Go Hoyas.

I am having team box over tonight for Tacos. You know how I love to cook. Wish me luck.

I went this morning to get the roots on my low-lites done. I am so mad. They never listen to you, those beauty girls, and they are so intimidating. She totally screwed up my hair and charged me a ton for it. I think she was going for strawberry blonde (why I don’t know) but it is basically pink and looks very ugly. Thanks beauty salon. I might just cut the bleached hair out.

One quick story: The AFL is about to start here (Australian Football League). The cup for preseason championship is tonight. AFL is huge here (bigger than NFL for us). Everyone is a fan. I am trying to pick a team. I have been using this as small talk at work. I’ve been asking everyone “Which AFL team they root for”. I was getting some strange looks. I’d try to be more specific, “Do you root for the St. Klida Saints, or the Richmond Tigers?” About a week into this someone from Team Box told me that they use “root” a little differently here. It’s slang, on the vulgar side. I’ll just say that JF Kennedy was rumored to have rooted Marilyn Monroe, if you get my drift. So when I was asking all my colleagues who they “root for” I was asking something else entirely. Go me. Apparently the phrase here is to “go for” a team and I’m planning to “go for” the Richmond Tigers.