Quidditch, anyone??

Okay, I'm officially hooked on Harry Potter. I've seen a couple of the movies, but the books are so much more fun! This past weekend, I began the first book; and today I started the second one. The third is, of course, on reserve at the library. (John Mark, I'll be done in no time, and we can have our literary discussion on the deeper themes in this series.)

I'm beginning to feel like a real Roanoker (as we are called) now, due to my daily exploration of the area of downtown near our new office. No longer do I get lost on the third floor of my parking garage (it is, actually, quite tricky). On my lunch break, I sat on a bench in the park and read a little HP (while I casually ignored the bum three benches down). And I'm considering getting a pedicure one day at this little salon I pass daily. What a city girl I am!

Up until now, I've been a little apprehensive to mention anyone except Sam and myself in this blog for fear that one of my subjects might read about him or herself and take offense. But this encounter is really worth the risk.....

At church on Sunday, Sam and I sat next to a friendly-looking lady whom we had never seen before. During that weekly (and painfully awkward) meet-and-greet time (which I have always secretly dreaded), we learned that she was visiting because her husband was speaking at an Environmental Engineering conference at Tech. What a coincidence!....Time for the hymns.

We continued our conversation after the service. She was pumped about engineering! The following are all direct quotes:

"I just love being married to an engineer. They are really the salt of the earth.!"

"Engineers are such solid people."

"There just simply aren't enough young people going into engineering."

Despite the fact that she was a very nice lady (who all but offered Sam a job in California), I had to get her to stop with the hype so Sam's head would have a chance to deflate. (It has returned to close to its normal size now, by the way.) Although I am certainly enjoying being married to Sam, I have to say that his engineer-hood is not my favorite attribute. The salt of the earth? Really???