Red eyes and Annie

Well, it's three minutes into soccer's World Cup in South Africa.  Somewhere in Chicago, Annie is watching the first match pitting South Africa against Mexico.  She's pulling for Mexico.  

This is the same Annie who stood in the rowdy part of the stands at Quest Field in Seattle last night, watching the Sounders go down in a surprising defeat to the DC United.  I know my friend Bryant is thrilled cuz his United finally pulled off a victory.  Annie doesn't want to talk about last night's game.

She wants to concentrate on the World Cup.  She'll be doing that for most of the day and then attending a Chicago Cubs baseball game tonight.  She's not happy cuz it's raining in Chicago. 

I know she's there because eight hours ago she said she was on a plane.  Three hours ago, she said she was on a train.  I'm assuming that was from O'Hare into the city.  I know all this cuz I read Facebook and cuz Annie likes to let her friends and family know what she's up to. 

I said to Bill this morning, "What did we do before there was email?  And, how did we ever survive life without Facebook?"  

"We'd have to wait until we read it in the Sandpoint Daily Bee," he said. Knowing that some kudos show up on the local paper's front page six months after the fact, our source for up-to-date happenings surely kept us in the dark on such items as when and where people were riding around in trains, planes and automobiles in distant cities. 

Thank you, Facebook.  I need to check in to see if Annie ever found a television to watch that first World Cup soccer match.  After all, she reported in 37 minutes before its start, so certainly she's letting the world know if she found a TV.  

Be back in a second . . . . . 

"Yup, I'm at the Globe Pub, about 20 TVs," she posted at 7:06 PDT.  

Well, I can rest, knowing my daughter has taken a brief stint to drown her sorrows about the Sounders, boarded a plane at Sea-Tac, safely arrived in Chicago, taken the train and found a pub, all before I've finished my morning latte.  

I know she's safe and happy watching soccer.

I'm sure we'll get continued reports throughout the day, and I'll probably nudge her to give her grandma a call once she's sitting at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs.  Mother would like that, cuz, as a Chicago native, she's always loved her Cubbies.

Annie's in Chicago on real business.  Tomorrow she'll be at Lincoln Park Zoo, along with two other staffers from Seattle's Groundspeak.  It's National Get Outdoors Day, and the group is going to give guidance on geocaching during their day at the zoo.  More information at  http://www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org/locations/detail/?id=223

We've told a few of our many Irish cousins in Chicago that she's going to be around, and maybe some of the rest of them can read this posting and pass the word, especially if they're curious about geocaching and wanting to learn more.  

I did pick up on that one comment Annie made on Facebook about the rain, and I'm so in the habit of talking about it, I have to say to all the folks in the Windy City to enjoy it.  We're glad to be sending it your way and to know that within the next 24 hours we'll be missing the droplets for almost a week.

Maybe Rain (not you, Raine) ought to join Facebook, so it can post updates every few minutes or hours and  we can track where it goes once it leaves North Idaho on its eastward journey.  And, every time we see that it's busy dropping its load somewhere far, far away, we post a comment that says, "Good Riddance."  

As for Annie, when she adds updates about her weekend experience in Chicago, I'll probably post of few comments, but they'll more along the lines of "Cool  . . . have fun . . . I envy you, etc."

In the meantime, good times and dry skies are coming to a place near us.  Bring 'em on.