All for spinning you around.

Spending a long period of time abroad can really mess with your head. It's like having multiple personalities. I live in Arkansas and I speak English. I live in Austria and I speak German. Which one of these lives is the real one? More on that when I figure out how to explain what I mean.

Eye Candy.

It's not very often I see something and think, "I have to have that. It must be mine." It's been a while since I felt that way, probably since my camping gear craze of 2002. But then, I saw this. I'm sure you feel the same way about it as I do.

"Two for good, one for bad..."

Good:
Earlier today I went for a walk downtown and found and Edith Piaf CD and the "Lost in Translation" soundtrack. I've finished all of my laundry and vacuumed my room. I'm about to upload some pictures under the "Graz" set. Today is taco day.

Bad:
My rain jacket got smoky Wednesday night so I washed it. For some reason, this time I pulled it out of the washing machine and most of the seam-proofing has come off. If it keeps raining like it has lately I'm going to have to get a new rainjacket. I like that one though so it may just be demoted to windjacket duties.

White Smoke.

Hi, so I just found out there is a new pope. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is the 265th Pope. That's an old hat to fill.

Finn-icky. Icky Finn.

So I'm in the computer lab and I hear someone start talking out loud. That's not so unusal, people answer their phones in here all the time. After a minute or so, I start thinking about that voice, and it sounds like an Asian language, maybe Chinese or Vietnamese, or whatever, it doesn't matter. Then I look over and see who it is. It is a 6'6" Finnish girl. 1) That language is just crazy. How can those sounds mean anything? 2) If I am a 6'6" snow white Finnish girl, do I dress in black studded denim and leather and dye my hair red and black stripes? No, no I do not.

Oh, Root Beer.

On the way to the computer lab today, I passed a girl that smelled like root beer. It made me really sad. For the last two and a half months, I haven't thought about root beer at all. You might say that I forgot it even existed. But now I want some really bad. Oh, root beer.

Where in the world....

...is Terra?

Last thought but certainly not least thought.

I love Jamie very, very much.

A Turn For the Absurd.

Here are some nuggets from "Let's Drink Too Much and Try Our English Out On Our Roommate Night."

Dominic: All of the girls on the sport university are saying I am a bitch because I am sleeping with them. I don't know what they are talking about. It's Mark. I have been sleeping with like three girls (holds up eight fingers) in my whole life.

Mark: I have no more girlfriend, now I have more free time.

Dominic: The best part that we are changing the lightbulbs is that we are doing it while we are drunk and it is working.

Blond Guy One and Blond Guy Two, in unison: Tussssscalooooooooooooosa.

Jaron: Is this a Region 2 DVD?
Dominic: No, it's the same movie as in the US, "As Good As It Gets."
Jaron: Yes, but our DVD players are different, can I play it on a DVD player from the US?
Dominic: Yes, it's the one with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

Mark: You should come to Austria, we are having fun in Austria.

Dominic: You are scaring me, you go to your room, you are scaring me. You are playing the game since like five minutes and you are getting all the frogs into the bucket.

Blond Guy Three: Why do you study German?

Four things I think today.

I think Michael Jackson is going to jail for a really long time. On the one hand, I think his life has been a tragedy, and not all of it is his fault. On the other hand, he makes his decisions, good and bad, and he seems to have made a lot of very bad ones.

I think Schilling gives six strong innings, gives up three runs, and strikes out seven. We'll see. At this point, I really don't care who wins, Skanks or Sox, there is still 95% of the season to be played out and April doesn't mean much except for working out the kinks. You could say that Spring Training is for working out the kinks, and you'd be right, but Boston's starting rotation is a big kink that is going to take some time. I'm not worried about it, Tito is back.

I think the weather here in Graz is ridiculous. Not as ridiculous as Arkansas, it doesn't change in a matter of minutes, which is one of the strange things Arkansans take pride in, but it is equally unpredictable and doesn't seem to care at all that there are "seasons" it is supposed to abide by.

I think Jeffri Chadiha is about a month late. Everyone else at SI.com has written about Matt Jones' impressive pro workouts and his intriguing draft possibilities, and did so starting more than a month ago. I'm not a huge Matt Jones fan, I like what he did for the program, he was exciting to watch, may or may not be a jerk, I don't know. He's a big reason the program is where it is, where it is going, and part of me simply likes reading about Arkansas in places other than the "You aren't going to believe how big this pumpkin is." type of articles. Anyway, I've enjoyed reading Peter King's theories about where Jones will go and what he'll do for the team that takes a chance on him, but I can't help but think Chadiha is reaching.

Two things I think today.

I think Derek Lowe got a raw deal. He was magical in the post-season and the Boston brass never even called him in the off-season. Raw. He's a sinkerballer, and as far as I know, sinkerballers are pretty durable. They apparently punched the numbers and found something that told them he wasn't worth it anymore. Too bad.

I think I miss Harold Reynolds.

Something to think about.

Mike has this link on his blog and it's really interesting so I stole it. Check it out and see how much the war really costs.

Cost of the War

Mmm...Cornetto. You don't even know.

Today was pretty good. My Lit class on Thursday stinks, but that's the way it goes. After class I had some Döner. Mmm...Döner. Durum. Mmm. Then I went to baseball practice, we played outside and it was really nice. I didn't hit the ball as well as I would have liked to, but I was only thrown out once, and I scored three runs. Next week I'm go to make sure the batting order is better. Philip, an Austrian guy on the baseball team, asked if I was interested in playing flag football after baseball. Curiosity got the best of me and I said yes. It was half funny and half sad. One guy was wearing these weird knee pads (it was flag football) and another guy had taped his fingers. And his knees. With tape. It was ridiculous.

I'm pretty tired. Tomorrow I'm going to get some homework done. Or at least get it ready to be done this weekend. Right now I'm going back to the apartment for a wheat beer, a Cornetto, and some sleep.

More than a feeling.

The Red Sox came back and beat the Yankees last night, scoring five runs off of the most feared closer in recent history. Everybody got to him. Bellhorn got to him. Billy Mueller got to him, again. Renteria woke up and gave him some. Edgah. It's a good feeling. I don't put any weight in Spring Training, and I put very little weight in the first three games of the regular season, 3 out of 162, but it's nice.

In other news Jamie has infected me with joy beyond measure. True, I am still in Austria, for three more months, but Jamie threw a parade for me yesterday the likes of which could never be rained on.

"Throw on a suit, get it tapered up." Jay-Z

Eureka!

So a few minutes ago I found out from Jamie that she was not accepted for the Fulbright teaching position in Austria. We are both so relieved, that answers a dozen or so questions right away. Much praise and rejoicing is to be expected.

Photos.

My flickr.com Pro Account went into action today. Enjoy.

Astute Observations.

Europeans love cigarettes.
Europeans have no peripheral vision whatsoever.
Europeans love the Pope.
Europeans love the pipe.
Europeans love bicycling.

Blogger's note: In this and every installment of "Astute Observations," every effort will be made to over-generalize and defame. Don't bother complaining about it or even pointing it out.