Weekend Update

Here are some highlights from the past week in Edinburgh:

• Cheryl got a 1-week job as a receptionist through the temp agency. It was a good week, except for the times she couldn’t make out the Scottish accents. Her coworkers gave her some pie and a card after just one week with them.
• Halloween/Reformation Day came and went with little hoopla. Halloween is celebrated over here, but it’s apparently not nearly as big a deal. Amazingly, Reformation Day (also Oct. 31) seems to be an even smaller event here than it is in the States. We were also hoping for some bagpipes on Reformation Sunday since we live in Scotland. But alas, they apparently only do that at Briarwood, not in the Presbyterian motherland.
• Speaking of which, we have found a church. We met with the pastor of the local Church of Scotland congregation last Saturday.  We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and felt right at home with his doctrine and vision.
• After going three weeks without our Slingbox, we are now back up and running, and enjoyed a good movie Friday night: The Natural. It was a little bit weird for Brandon watching a movie on the Women’s Entertainment channel, but it’s hard to argue with Robert Redford as the quintessential ball player.
• Brandon has confirmed his research topic with his supervisor, and spent most of his time this past week researching the first section of his dissertation.
• Our hot water heater went out this week. But, we got it fixed within about two days.
• We’ve discovered a new favorite TV show (one among many, that is). Unfortunately, it was canceled a few years ago. The show is Arrested Development, and it only lasted three seasons on Fox. We never watched it while it was on, but now that our friends have the DVDs we are enjoying them at our convenience. Discovering our fondness for this show has allowed us successfully to fill the Jason Bateman void in our lives after The Hogan Family went off the air in 1991.
• Did you know: Jason Bateman had the lead role in the star-studded cast of Teen Wolf Too. His sister Justine Bateman costarred in Family Ties with the original Teen Wolf, Michael J. Fox. What a small world.