What Goes Through Your Mind The Day After You Get Back

TUESDAY, 9/6:

Various thoughts from someone who’s still a little dazed and confused (okay, a little more dazed & confused than usual) and trying to adjust back to reality--

1.  Thanks for all the kind messages we received upon our return.  Many of those messages joked that we brought the cold weather with us, and if we did, please accept my sincerest apologies.  It was 90 degrees the last day we were in Europe; I’m thinking the warmth just missed one of the connecting flights to Marquette, probably the one in London, where it was raining.  So I hope the cold’s not our fault!

2.  When I woke up yesterday morning I went running, and it freaked me out that the first song that popped up on my iPod (which was set on “shuffle”) was a new tune by Simple Plan and Natasha Bedingfield called “Jet Lag”.  The reason it freaked me out was that it was stuck in my head the entire time we were flying back home Sunday.  I’m thinking the song popping up was a coincidence; if not, I’d like to know how my iPod can read my mind.  Is there something Steve Jobs forgot to tell us before he left Apple?

3.  We didn’t get a chance to listen to much radio over there, but when we did it was mostly the same old stuff you hear over here—Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Pink.  There is one thing I hafta mention, though.  On the drive from Salzburg to Munich Saturday we were listening to Antenne Bayern, a station that sounds very much like the one at which I work.  Announcing that afternoon was a woman who, when reading off song titles, did so in a perfect American accident.  Normally, when you hear Europeans speaking fluent English, it’s with a British accent, but not so this particular announcer.  It was just one of those moments that makes you sit up in the back seat of a car and do a double take, I guess.

4.  The chocolate made it home okay.  Want proof?

Sure, I know it looks like a lot, but consider two things.  The first is that it’s not all for me; some is for family and friends.  The other?

It’s chocolate from Europe!  Why wouldn’t I buy a lot????

8-)

5.  Finally, here’s a picture that, according to Loraine, is just too good to pass up--

It’s me and Tony the Tour Guide at the Albert Einstein plaque in his home town of Ulm, Germany.  In case you wonder WHY we’re doing this, there’s a very famous picture of Dr. Einstein with his tounge hanging out of his mouth.  Apparently, it’s a tradition for people to have their picture taken at the plaque with their tongues hanging out, and who are we to flaunt tradition, right?


(jim@wmqt.com)