Today is Gerben's birthday -- congratulations!

Yesterday after work we went to Four Courts, an Irish pub in Court House. It was a nice group, we were with some 25 people and it was fun.

Afterwards me and my parents went for dinner in the Silver Diner, where they tried a real American hamburger and a Budweiser. Jaap and Mieke liked the restaurant, with the small jukeboxes on each table.

This afternoon my parents arrived in Washington! I went to pick them up in the late afternoon from Union Station; they had taken the train from New York.

I couldn't find them right away, and thought that they were (already) lost, but it turned out that the train had a delay. Jaap & Mieke spent a few days first in New York, the first time for both of them there. Chrysler building, Staten Island, Brooklyn, a dinner with Jonathan & Irena... a lot of stories and a lot of pictures.

It's very nice to have them here. We had dinner together at home and went for a walk in the neighbourhood.

Sunday I drunk my first Grimbergen Tripel in a long, long time. I had almost forgot how nice it tastes! It's both sweet and a little bit bitter, with a wonderful aftertaste, definitely my favorite beer.

The Triples have new bottles, no longer the small, sturdy bottles but more regular shaped. I am not sure if that's a real improvement, but oh -- the taste...

Incidentally, I found that our Wholefoods was selling Westmalle Tripel as well. Because these are usually only temporary in stock I bought two large bottles. Three weeks ago I bought quite some Grolsch, and we still had some beers from Williamsburg. So now, just two days before my parents arrive, there is an impressive amount of alcohol in the fridge.

Today is Ettie's first day on her new internship at Staatsbosbeheer. Staatsbosbeheer is a Dutch governmental organisation, managing the natural heritage in the Netherlands.

Ettie will do research in the Weerribben, a national park in the northern part of Overijssel. There's a lot of water in this park, and Ettie will do a big part of her data gathering from a boat.

Puerto Rico has a distinct cuisine, which reminds of the Cuban kitchen.

One thing that strikes me as odd is that the food there seems so unhealthy. There is so much fruit on the island, but in most local restaurants the food seems to be suspiciously void of vitamines. Fried plantain, fried chicken breast, fried potatoes and sometimes even fried bread...

As a general rule I try not to eat the real Puerto Rican food to often, and I always have some fruit in my room to compensate for the non-optimal cuisine. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious food, but with all the oranges, mangos and other fresh fruit you'd imagine a more vitamine rich diet. One of the recipes I enjoy a lot is pechuga in a small restaurant near our customer's office, con arroz congri i pikante. Whenever we're in Puerto Rico we often go to that place for lunch.

The project I am working on is now in its development phase. We finished the requirements a while back and the design is as good as done. It's really nice to see the software getting shape, the first components and detailed designs have been created already.

As for my dear travelers, everything is well. Sasha is seeing a lot of the regio around Nice -- she visited Cannes last weekend, and Monaco before that. Yesterday afternoon, after her French classes she made a tour through the Provence. Jerry and Marjolein arrived in Louisiana a few days ago, and my parents are leaving Middenmeer tomorrow morning very early to take a plane to New York.

We have a new camera!

Two weeks ago we went again to Best Buy. I called in advance and they put aside one of the camera's that had just come in that day.

We choose a Canon Powershot A520. The HP PhotoSmart that I've had for a long time served me well, and I feel sorry that I can't use it anymore, but the new camera is very nice.

One of the features I like is the the display that shows the focus point chosen, as well as the the shutter speed and aperture chosen by the auto exposure system. The camera also has a beamer to determine the distance between the object and the camera when it's dark... a lot of useful tools but the camera is easy in use.

The memory cards of the HP fit in the new camera also so we can re-use those. We were not so lucky with the inital A520 we got Friday -- when I took the first picture in the metro station, the shutter didn't fully open automatically. We returned in immediately and luckily enough they had more camera's in stock.

Yesterday I basically spent shopping. In the morning to two supermarkets, and in the afternoon I went to a mall to get a new pair of shorts and a dough roller. I spent some time in the bookstore at Pentagon City, drinking coffee and browsing some books.

When I was traveling back from Pentagon City by metro, I realized I didn't have my house key with me. I was pretty sure I had brought it, so I was afraid I had lost it. At the front-desk of our building they helped me out and somebody came with me to the apartment with a master key. It turned out that my keys where inside, on the bar.

In the evening I made a pizza. It was the first time I made pizza myself in the U.S., not counting the months of labor in my first summer job in Tannersville grinding garlic and making tomato sauce. I couldn't find the pre-dosed mix I usually made the bread with in Haarlem, so I did it the old fashioned way: flower, hot water and yeast. Of course, that process takes longer, so I ate very late.

The result was very good, with a very tasty and crispy crust.

I came home late last night.

I couldn't get a plane ticket to Washington Dulles for Friday evening, to I took the flight to Baltimore instead. BWI, the airport there, is a lot further from Arlington and I was home around midnight.

When I left the office yesterday it was a chaos on the streets: everywhere there were huge lines in front of (empty) gas stations. There was some rumours that the ATMs would stop working in the weekend as well, so there were large lines in front of cash machines also. This morning I read that the strike ended and gas deliveries are getting back to normal. Good news for my colleagues who are there this weekend.

I've been several times at the airport in San Juan now, and I usually get a cup of coffee before we leave. One of the moving sidewalks to get to the terminal were Starbucks is has been out of service for over three months.

When I came home there were some really nice surprises. A Volksrant, caramel wafers (stroopwafels) and a large supply of Grimbergen Triple. Thanks a lot guys! Jerry and Marjolein left Arlington two days ago and are on their way to Lafayette in Indiana.

This morning I went out for breakfast, I had nothing at home to eat. Had a bagel and coffee at Cosi's. I felt tired, and it's great to get some real rest at home -- it's been a very busy week. Today there was the annual 99 tournament in Amsterdam. Zoltan won the cup again.

I'll leave to Virginia in about an hour. The battery of my cellphone is empty, and the charger is somewhere deep in my luggage, so no phone calls anymore.

The drivers of the gas-trucks are on strike in Puerto Rico, so all gasstations are closing... hope I'll be able to get out :)