British accents and other train stories...

So what is it about British accents that intrigue Americans so much??

My theory is that those of us who do realize that there is a world outside of the US also realize that we have basically butchered the language and that the Brits are speaking correctly. If you think about it, they can say the exact same thing as us, but it just sounds better with the accent!! Isn't it amazing how that happens?? Or maybe I'm just a nut who loves a British accent. I know I'm not alone in this... :) Mark and Kelly both have commented on cool British accents. And I know that Vicki loves the accent (speaking of which... that bum is going to be in Germany relatively soon... I'm envious). So yeah... it's just intriguing. You're probably wondering why I decided to start my blog with a discussion on British accents... it's because the British conductor is now on my afternoon train... and it just makes me smile every day when I see him. Apparently they had a massive conductor switch at the beginning of the month... so now the annoying one (who was kinda freaky) is no longer on my train... YAY!! For those of you who don't know the story, the previous conductor on my train always kind of freaked me out because I think he got the impression that because I would usually smile at him when I showed him my train pass that I was interested in more than just showing him my pass. Let me tell you... I wasn't. And that stopped me from smiling at people on the train!!! Seriously... apparently that's what you get for being nice! So I then had to start pretending that I was asleep, or REALLY concentrating on my book, or whatever, when he'd come by to check passes. It was just sad. But now he's gone and we have the British guy. He's always so nice... actually says "please" and "thank you." It's a nice change from the norm. Too bad that he is now on my train in my last week!! Figures... :P Oh well.

So my other train story of the day... I have really nice train buddies. Joe (the IT guy) says that I'm the social butterfly of the train. LOL The funny thing is that now that I think about it, I sort of am!! I have buddies on every train that I ride!! And I'm trying to make sure that I say goodbye to all of them this week... I wouldn't want to leave anyone out!! So anyway, today was my last day on the "early" train and I have two train "dads" (as I like to think of them, even though I'm too old to really be their daughter... but that's beside the point!!). Anyway, when we got to the city, one of them called over to me and ended up giving me his contact info so that we could keep in touch after this! He wants to know about my teaching and also "if that boyfriend of mine ever pops the question." LOL I just laughed... but it was really nice. It's times like that when I realize how many friends I have made on the train... and that I will miss seeing them (although I won't miss the commuting part!!). So yeah... that was good. Ange and I were chatting about how we could have written an entire thesis on riding the train... and the different types of people that you see there. It totally is a study in human interactions... somebody should do that.

Anyway... moving on... so Kevin text messaged me yesterday telling me he'd chat with me when he got back... he is now in Germany for the World Cup. Seriously... what is it with all of my friends going to Europe in these next few weeks without me!! RUDE!! Okay... not like I have the time or money to go right now... but that doesn't mean I don't want to go! It might be worth it to stow away in baggage. :) So anyway... Lord knows how much trouble Kevin and his boys will get into while they're in Germany... but I'm sure that they'll have a great time.

So I really don't have too much to report today... last night I made a Rachael Ray 30-minute meal that turned out really well. I was happy. Although can someone tell me where you can actually get fresh herbs?? She uses herbs all the time and I bought the dried version, and while it did season the meal well, I certainly didn't want to eat the dried herbs!! So that was a problem... I ended up having to scrape the herbs off to avoid the bad crunching. So yeah... if you can let me know where you get fresh herbs, that would be great!! I thought they'd be in the produce section, if they were anywhere. And I saw cilantro... but that was it. Is that all I can get from Jewel? Cilantro? Do I need to go to a Whole Foods or something to get any other herb? Can someone help me with this?! :) Anyway... otherwise, it was a good meal... I was proud of myself. And then I watched X-Men. Mark gave his X-Men and X-2 DVD's to watch this week in preparation of seeing X-3 this weekend.

I had seen X-Men years ago when I was in Iowa. And I was shocked to find out that I actually enjoyed the movie. But I never saw X-2. And apparently you have to see that before you see X-3. So I'm catching up... being the good girlfriend. The payback will be that Mark is going to have to go see The Breakup or some other chick flick with me. :) This is how we do movies... he chooses a movie and then I choose a movie. So it will be my turn next. :)

Speaking of Mark... he informed me yesterday that July 11th may be his last day in Phoenix!! Now, the date isn't set in stone... but that's what it's shaping up to be... and that makes me happy. Especially coming the day after he told me that his boss at the client he's working at mentioned to him how the project is way behind schedule and hinted that maybe he could stay for another 10 weeks. I was just like... oh my gosh, no!! 8 weeks was one thing... 18 weeks, quite another. Fortunately, the head of the Phoenix office for Mark's company told him that his contract is just for the 8 weeks... if he wanted to stay longer, he could... but he is NOT required to stay. So that was good to hear. And that's the update as of now.

Anyway... I think that's it! I really don't have anything else to report! I'm boring like that... sorry kids!! So I guess I should be going for now. I hope that you are all having a great day... :)