In the summer when my parents were here we went for a cup of coffee at Shade Tree, and realized what a great coffee they served there.

Unfortunately, they closed a month or two ago. Bull City Rising has good news though: there is a new coffee shop coming into its place.

This should make

Today at lunch in Honey Baked Ham I heard the first Christmas music of the season.

Tomorrow will be my 30th birthday. The end of my twenties. I will now be a "thirty-something".

Yesterday we celebrated in our house with a nice party. It was a lot of fun to prepare and great to see everybody.

This year we were ready well on time.

This is the first year the amount of candles required no longer (safely) fits on the cake...

Yesterday's New York Times had an article about the Netherlands.

"The Netherlands, a Low Country, Seeks Higher Ground".

The fake satellite photo of a tulip-island is funny.

Possible places to go to tonight around Durham, NC:

Downtown Durham Barack 'N Roll Celebration. Starts at 8.30 pm.

Duke University's Public Policy Institute has an election night. From 9.00 pm to 1.00 am.

John McCain Election Night party in Holly Springs (the closest I could find).

Tomorrow, after a long campaign that we have thoroughly enjoyed, is Election Day 2008 and tomorrow night we'll know who'll be President for the next four years.

The first results will come in in about 20 minutes, when a small village in New Hampshire with 20 registered voters will be the first in the nation to open the polls, and quickly after that to pronounce the results.

Of course, the real interesting results will come in tomorrow evening, starting at 7.00 pm EST (1.00 am Dutch time, 2.00 am Bulgarian time) when the first states, including Virginia, will close the polls. North Carolina's polls will close at 7.30 pm and around 8.00 pm a large group of states will complete their voting.

It's been a wonderful experience to see over the last two years, up close, a great democracy in action.

Yesterday I ran the City of Oaks Half Marathon in Raleigh and shattered my personal record. My result was 2:03, a full 15 minutes faster than my previous record at 2:18 in San Diego.

The weather made a big difference; it was pretty cold yesterday and that's easier to run in than the weather we had in the spring and summer in North Carolina and in San Diego. Two long training runs that I did at speed in the last 6 weeks helped as well.

The race was great. When I arrived at 6.00 am it was still cold, so I waited in my warm-up suit for a while. I started fairly close to the front and I just ran with the crowd in the beginning. My goal pace was 10 minutes a mile, but I wanted to get some extra time in the first few miles.

When I reached the 5 mile mark I was at 45 minutes, even after some pretty big hills. I decided to slow down a bit for the next few miles, and maintain 9.5 to 10 minutes per mile. I made an annoying calculation mistake at mile 7, just like I did in San Diego, where I basically mixed up mile 7 and 9. Nevertheless, I maintained a steady speed and I finished at 2 hours and 3 minutes.

Early in the morning. I was at the start line around 6.00 am.

Friday was Halloween and there was a big party in Alex' and Justin's house.

I was dressed up as a Dutch soccer fan. A few people carefully asked me why I was wearing a French flag but I explained things to them.

Thanks Angelo, for the picture. Angelo is the gentleman with the drink in his hand.