Thanks for the article link, Marc!!
It actually had a quote about what I was thinking: "It is generally thought that our universe began as a tiny patch
in some pre-existing space-time forming a bubble which then underwent a burst of exponential expansion."
Although, honestly, I had no idea that the idea had general acceptance. Makes me feel a little better somehow, to know that the thought of a pre-existing space-time (as in prior to the bang) is not entirely for those of us considered crack-pots.
