Writer's Block

I have been having a horrible case of writer's block. Amid all the preparations for Africa, interviews for my new job (I got it!), various events, and get-togethers with family and friends I have not been focusing very much on blog-worthy content.

For some days last week the weather here was absolutely beautiful! For the beginning of September it was a pleasant surprise to have fall-like weather. The wind was cool, the temperatures were lower than usual, and there seemed to be very little humidity. If only the leaves had been changing color it would have been the very picture of fall.

The weather got me reminiscing about the start of school (blech...I always hated that time of year most growing up), riding my bike in the cool (not freezing) temperatures in Amsterdam with the trees displaying their fall foliage, and the welcome break that Thanksgiving always is. I realize to think on these things at the beginning of September will inevitably lead to disappointment that 1.) the holidays are still so far away and 2.) the temperatures are bound to be back up in the 90s within two weeks. In my defense, the temperatures are only this pleasant for mere days out of the year here in this part of the state, so I have to take advantage when they appear.

Friday night we went with some friends to a Rangers baseball game. We went to the wrong game last weekend. I admit my facts are going to be quite wrong, but as I remember it, we watched the Red Sox score eight runs by the end of the game, including fantastic doubles, multiple home runs, and generally superb base hits. The Rangers, on the other hand, couldn't catch the ball, made at least one error, and had only half as many hits as the Red Sox. Oh, and we scored only one run - a homer in the ninth that we, unfortunately, missed completely because some Rangers lady came by and asked us to get our picture taken for the website in a pose that had us turned with the field in the background. Since that was the only good play made by the Rangers all night, we decided we should have asked for that lady to refund our tickets after having made us miss the play!

By the sound of the crowd and the numerous red shirts in the stadium, there must have been more Boston fans at the game than there were Rangers fans.

(On the bright side, the weather was again gorgeous, so it was a pleasure to sit outside that evening.)

We happened to turn on the baseball game Saturday night and proceeded to watch the Rangers score seven runs in the second inning alone and win that game 15-8. We should have been at the Saturday night game!

Ah well.

We have also been buying and selling on Craigslist. While this is a cheaper way to sell things than Ebay, it is a bit more time-consuming and frustrating since, rather than shipping items (more expensive) we have to wait for the people who email/call to actually show up to collect the items (often they decide not to show up without bothering to inform us). John is a much better (and far more patient and forgiving) salesperson than I am, so I'm pretty much letting him handle all this.

If you have read about these mundane details of life in the last week, bless you. If you have any ideas or questions that I could blog about, let me know. I don't feel the writer's block lifting anytime real soon.