The weather today really reminds me of the weather in the Netherlands in the fall. It's very windy, with a little bit of rain, and it's not very warm (around 20 degrees Celcius). Quite a difference with the rest of the week, when it was very hot and humid.

Yesterday we went to Best Buy to see if we could find a new digital camera. Repairing the old one would be quite expensive, and buying a new one makes more sense. We found two models that we like, but unfortunately both were out of stock. They'll have a new supply today -- hopefully we can get it tonight.

It is a great feeling to have such a long weekend, and without any work as well. I came home from Puerto Rico late Friday night. I worked a little bit on the plane, but also spend time studying Spanish words. I am now at eight hundred out of the thousand words in my list.

The plane had a little bit of a delay when we left San Juan, but the arrival time was as usual. I was selected for a seat in an exit-row, which was very pleasant because it gave me more space for my legs. The plane was overbooked, just ahead of the 4th of July weekend, and some people were offered alternative flights in exchange for money.

I always buy my tickets online, so I can immediately select a seat when I get the ticket. However, last week when I bought the ticket it did not offer me that option... a sign that the plane was fully booked and I was glad when on Wednesday I did get a seat assigned.

Unfortunately, my camera is broken, which is why there are so few pictures on the website these days. I guess the intensive use was just to much. Not sure if I want to buy a new one or have it repaired.

Today I am travelling back to Virginia, and I am looking forward to it.

Last weekend was very busy, and now I've been away for a week... time to spend some time together. It's a long weekend, Monday is July 4th, a national holiday in the US.

It has been a productive week -- we finished a proposal for a large new part of the project, and looking at the scope of another, smaller, part. It will be useful to spend some time in Virginia though; there is some work that needs to be done in the next weeks which I need to make sure happens on time.

In Haarlem I had a subscription to The Economist, a magazine that I really enjoy. When I moved the U.S., I asked The Economist to transfer my subscription to the new address, but I never received the magazine there. I kind of neglected it for a couple of months, but a week ago I decided to ask them about it.

This morning:

"Dear Mr. Bosman,

We received your complaint that you have not received all of your issues.

We have checked into the delivery problem for you. It appears the account was placed on a postal hold. The post office notified us your issues were undeliverable as addressed.

We have corrected your address to include your full apartment number. Your account has been extended for any issues not sent. Your subscription is being restarted with the July 09 issue. The new expiration date on your account is now November 12, 2005.

Thank you for alerting us to this problem."

Very happy!

A few hours ago a new princess was born, a new daugther to the Dutch heir to the trone. We were having breakfast, and enjoyed a quiet morning after a hectic Saturday. I worked a couple of hours yesterday, even went into the office in the evening.

It's still very warm here (86 Fahrenheit, or 30 Celcius), but not as hot as yesterday.

Tomorrow morning I'll travel to Puerto Rico with the 7am flight, to stay a week in San Juan.

Today were the elections in Bulgaria for a new parliament. It looks like the BSP, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, has won with about 32% of the votes.

The result of the election was known around 16.00 o'clock our time, so when we left to the embassy we already knew the result.

The Bulgarian Embassy is located in downtown D.C., near Dupont Circle. It was nice to see the Bulgarian flag, and in front of the embassy there was a statue of Vasil Levski.

Sasha went inside to vote, and as it was the end of the day there weren't many people anymore so she was done fairly quickly. Four years ago we went to the Bulgarian Embassy in The Hague, the Netherlands, to vote.

Today was a very long day at work. A major part of the project that I am working on will be going "into production" this weekend.

The final tests are now being executed, and that means we are having long phone conversations until late at night. I wouldn't want to do this very often, but it's fun every now and then: everybody eating together in the office and working to get the application ready for prime-time.

It's been enough though, and I'm packing up. Another long day tomorrow.

Yesterday we saw Sideways, a movie that won a few Oscars. It was one of those movies that we had wanted to see for a long time, but we never found time for it.

It was an excellent choice. It's a beautiful story about two guys going on a vacation trip for a week. Their relationship, and their personal problems and character traits made for a very pleasant movie.

In the course of the movie they are drinking a lot of different wines, and their trip is to 'wine-land' in California.

I still like Merlot, though.

It is great to be in Virginia again. I was home late yesterday; the plane landed around 21:45 o'clock and it took a long time to get my luggage and to get home. I traveled together with Mike, a colleague, and although we checked in fairly on time, we kind of forgot the time when we had lunch.

Even though it was late I wanted to get some coffee from the Starbucks at the other end of the terminal, and he left for the gate. Just when I was ordering he told me that they announced my name for "immediate boarding please". I made it on time but spilled quite some coffee on the airport floor.

This afternoon Sasha and I went for a walk. We went to Rosslyn, where my work is, and visited the Freedom Park. This is a small outdoor exhibition with items of freedom related events, such as a replica of the cell door of Marten Luther King, and a statue of Tianamen square in Beijing. An impressive element in the park is a part of the Berlin Wall that they brought over from Germany.

The weather is great here -- it's very warm and sunny, sometimes even too much! But, no compliants, I like it a lot. I'm typing this article on the balcony while having a Heineken. The Grolsch I found a few weeks ago in Wholefoods is over and they don't have it anymore, unfortunately. The next time I find Grolsch somewhere I will get us a large supply. More critical is the lack of Grimbergen... haven't had a Grimbergen Triple in more than half year.

Today I'll be traveling home, the documents I came here for are ready and the customer likes them, so my work is done.

On the way to here last Sunday I studied Spanish words in the plane, and that worked very well. Yesterday night I downloaded a few free educational programs that I will try out in the plane.

I looked for tools that contain the pronounciation of the words, and one tool I like a lot is Words Galore.