Some observations on returning to the USA:

Went to a concert recently, and I think I was the only person in the whole place with a camera. Everyone else was holding up cell phones to snap their photos and videos. I guess the days of banning audio/video recording devices from such events are long gone...

Waaaaaay too many choices in the supermarket. There's so many gatorade flavors they've run out of real flavors to call them. I bought some 'Cool Fusion' and 'Red Drive'. What is that? Both were good though, and both have a Tiger Woods stare on them. I watched the PGA Championship last week and saw Tiger and Y.E. Yang walking down the fairway drinking gatorades. Do you think Tiger drinks a gatorade with his face on it? What about his opponents? What's that say about your chances if your drink has your opponent's face on it? And back to absurd choices, did you know they make chocolate flavored skittles? I mean really, with a million different types of actual chocolate candies, is there actually a market for chocolate flavored skittles?

I was a little disappointed this year in my beloved Cincinnati Bengals when they passed on the chance to draft Tim Masthay (UK) in the seventh round for kickoffs and punts, but after seeing Ochocinco's performance this week, perhaps they did not have the need I thought they had...

I still find myself gazing out the window when driving to check for elephants. I think that'll pass eventually.

100+ tv channels and it really is possible for nothing to be on. I'm thankful that 2 years in Africa sans television has taught me the discipline to shut it off and actually do something useful with my time.

Restaurant waiters are so friendly! And so helpful! We wanted to invite our waiter over to hang out, babysit, and just be our friend. We couldn't believe how much he cared about our eating experience! But then the rest of our table told us that he was just a standard waiter, no better than any other.

Choices, systems, ahh! We're Americans, we've spent a collective 48 years in the USA, and yet when we got back, we were utterly confused at times. For example... fast-food restaurants and the 'middle-class' fast food: we go to the counter and order? Look at a menu or a board? Order by number or name? Customizing options? Meals or a la carte? Then do we pay here or there? Do we get our cup here, there, or do you hand us a drink now or with our food? Do we wait here or at our table? Do I ask for ketchup here, pick it up myself, get it at the table, do I pay for it? Do you call my name, number, bring it to me? Do I take my trash to the can, leave it on the table, is this basket trash? Yeah... it's a little intimidating. And we're not even foreigners. What once seemed like common sense now feels like Greek. With the the prospect of a new move to a new country in the near future, we're a little scared of the thought of learning a whole new set of systems such as these.

Mexican food is still spectacular.