A puppy

We have a puppy! Greg and Sammy had been asking for a dog for a year. They gave up their big birthday presents, but all they got were pooper scoopers and poopie bags.

After a lot of trips to Petland stores looking at yorkies, schnauzers, and maltesers, we finally decided on a pocket beagle this week. That's a lively dog of a size that the boys can handle. Our puppy is a girl, and her name is Carly. Most of the time, she's napping. Preferably in one of our laps.

I am not really known as the biggest dog lover in town. But hey, maybe Carly will make "het baasje" change his mind.

Happy Thanksgiving 2007

We celebrated our 8th Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. We joined the cooking tradition years ago. Of course we had turkey with cranberry sauce and stuffing. And roast potatoes with rosemary, along with zucchini, butternut squash, and a Waldorf salad. And some Sonoma valley merlot to top it off. And the traditional football game? We did not really watch it. The Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Jets earlier this afternoon in Texas Stadium. The highlight were the snowflakes making a surprise appearance late in the second quarter. Yes, it was cold today.

The skate park

It's Thanksgiving break. The boys are off from school this week, and I am also taking vacation. We are taking advantage of the warm weather. It is still 80 degrees (27 Celsius), so we took to the park. We discovered a pretty cool skate park in Allen. Greg and Sammy have been riding their skateboards and their Razor scooters, while I was enjoying the sunshine and listening to loud grunge music played. I never knew young people still listened to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

The rise of the euro

The euro has been rising steadily against the dollar. It is also gaining ground as a global currency. There has been talk about China and the Arabian nations keeping a portion of their reserves in euros. So far, it's been just talk.

Mafia kingpins have already changed their currency of choice for money laundering and storage. It used to be the one hundred dollar bill. Now it's the 500 euro note. And that applies to both real gangsters and musical gangstahs.

In the video for Blue Magic, top musical gangstah Jay Z is driving through the streets of New York flashing huge stacks of euros. Some financial experts labeled Jay-Z an economic forecaster, of sorts, calling him the next Alan Greenspan. Nobody legitimizes the euro like Jay-Z.

Spotlight student

Every day, Greg and Sammy open their schoolday with the Star Spangled Banner, the pledge of allegiance to the American flag and to the state flag. Next some students will present a short news bulletin that is televised over the school's CCTV system. They will announce what's on the menu for that day, and what the Maverick's score was.

Once a week, this is followed by a little award ceremony. A handful of students is awarded for helping others, showing good attitude, or simply for uniqueness. Yesterday, Sammy was the spotlight student. He received the uniqueness award.

Halloween in Stonebridge Ranch

We had our first Halloween in Stonebridge Ranch. Greg was dressed up as Michael Myers, while Sammy was Optimus Prime. Here are some belated Halloween pictures.