Amsterdam as you've never seen it before: Visualizing SMS messages

(Thanks to Rolf).

Chicken with tarragon sounds less delicious than 'poulet poêle à l'estragon', but that is of course what that is.

After an easy Sunday I cooked a Julia Childs dish and that turned out delicious. I used the huge Dutch oven that I recently bought. We had Argentine sweets for dessert.

This weekend is graduation weekend, and the parking lots are completely full since many parents are in town for the ceremonies and to help the graduates move out of their apartments. Classes have officially ended, so the 'quiet time' start again, until the end of August. Oprah Winfrey was at Duke today to give the commencement address.

Yesterday Sasha and I attended a broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion", a weekly radio show that's been on the air since 1974.

We've gotten to know the show since we bought our first car; it is on the air in North Carolina on Sunday afternoons. The show consists of a variety of acts, including live music and comical performances, and was created by its host Garrison Keillor. A Prairie Home Companion usually broadcast from Minnesota but occasionally they're on the road and last night the show was in the Durham Performing Art Center (DPAC).

It was very enjoyable to see a live performance of the show, which had many references to North Carolina last night. Graduation weekend, magnolia trees, North Carolina BBQ and of course the rivalry between Duke and UNC. It was great to see Fred Newman perform live creating a wide variety of sound effects with simple instruments.

This was our first visit to DPAC, which opened in December of 2008. It's a beautiful theater and it's very large with 2 levels of balconies. It's a great addition to downtown Durham. In the evening we celebrated Analia's birthday until late at night.

Yesterday's show will be placed on the Prairie Home website for listening sometime this week.

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we attended a very nice and romantic wedding (congratulations Sylvana and Daniel!) We had a great dinner with a good friend on the balcony.

On Sunday I went for an ambitious run. I tried to do 16 miles, but it was 85 degrees and I gave up after 14 miles. That meant I still had to walk another two miles to the car. Since it's also pollen season I was sneezing quite a few times during the run. Beautiful course though, through Umstead and the Cary Greenway.

I was pretty much wiped out Sunday night, and watched "Quantum of Solace" which was exactly the right movie at the right time. Simple, uncomplicated with a lot of car chases and explosions. I enjoyed it.